Department for Transport

Department for Transport: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Jesse Norman: At the start of this year, the Government set out its plans to maximise the benefits of Brexit across each major sector of the economy and transform the UK into the best regulated country in the world. Much progress has been made, including via the introduction of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) (REUL) Bill. This will enable the Government, via Parliament, to remove burdensome sand unnecessary EU regulation in favour of a more agile, regulatory approach directly designed to benefit the UK. The powers within the Bill to repeal, reform or preserve REUL should provide opportunities to stimulate economic growth, innovation and job creation across the transport sector.

Department for Transport: Procurement

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Department’s publication of spend control approvals data for July to September 2022, what the nature and purpose are of the debt collection services approved for procurement on 27 September 2022.

Jesse Norman: This relates to a managed service contract run by the Department for Transport’s Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency for a panel of debt collection agencies to collect penalties arising from members of the public who evade their requirements of taxing vehicles.

Department for Transport: Hotels

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the transparency data entitled DfT's spending over £500 for August 2021, published on 30 December 2021, for which individuals accommodation was purchased at the Plaza Tirana on 26 August 2021; for how many nights that accommodation was purchased; and what the purpose was for those stays at that hotel.

Jesse Norman: Accommodation was purchased for three nights (25th August-28th August 2021). The purpose of the visit was for Rannia Leontaridi (UK Director General for Civil Aviation) and Rebecca Lambert (member of the International Aviation team), to attend the 70th Special Meeting of European Civil Aviation Conference Directors General of Civil Aviation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Housing: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes in Kingston upon Hull North constituency have had heat pumps installed as of 31 October 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database shows that as of 31 October 2022, 39 heat pump installations were registered in the Kingston upon Hull North constituency. The database does not include all heat pump installations, for example, those installed without Government funding support, such as in new buildings, which are not typically recorded in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database.

Housing: Energy

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of homes with energy efficiency measures installed in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Government is committed to improving the energy performance of homes across the country, including in Kingston Upon Hull North.The Government is already investing £6.6 billion over this parliament on decarbonising heat and energy efficiency measures.An additional £6 billion of new Government funding, announced in the Autumn Statement, will be made available from 2025 to 2028. This provides long-term funding certainty, supporting the growth of supply chains, and ensuring we can scale up our delivery over time.

Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what contingency plans his Department has in place for a liability being incurred by a nuclear operator under the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy.

Graham Stuart: The Nuclear Installations Act 1965 implements the requirements of the Paris Convention into UK legislation. Under this Act civil nuclear operators are required to have sufficient financial coverage in place to meet their nuclear third party liability obligations to victims. The UK is also party to the Brussels Supplementary Convention which places additional liabilities on civil nuclear operators. Any liability incurred above these levels would be handled initially by pooled international funds and then by the Government.

Post Offices: Energy Bill Relief Scheme

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of maintaining the Energy Bill Relief Scheme support in place for Post Office branches beyond 31 March 2023.

Graham Stuart: HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and evidence from post offices is included in that which has been received. The Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will report by the end of this year 2022.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of homes that have been retrofitted through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in the Kingston upon Hull North constituency since the introduction of that fund.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator and Wave 1 awarded a combined total of around £240m of grant funding to Local Authorities, with data held on local authority-led projects rather than at a constituency level. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Alternative Fuel Payments: Park Homes

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to park home residents who will receive their Energy Bills Support Scheme via the Alternative Fund allowance, whether those residents will have to apply for that payment or whether it will be disbursed automatically; what delivery mechanisms his Department will use to disburse that payment, including the option of payments being made via local councils; and when those residents will receive that payment.

Graham Stuart: The Government is working to finalise the details of the Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding and have the process up and running for applications this winter. Eligibility, timescales and method of delivery of will be announced shortly.

Housing: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of which wards in Kingston upon Hull North constituency have the highest number of homes with retrofitting measures installed.

Graham Stuart: BEIS estimates that Orchard Park is the ward in Kingston upon Hull North constituency with the highest number of retrofitting measures installed through the following government schemes: Energy Company Obligation (ECO), Green Homes Grant (GHG) schemes, Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). The order from highest to lowest ward is as follows:Orchard ParkAvenueNorth CarrWest CarrBeverley & NewlandUniversityBricknellCentralKingswoodSutton

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Sefton Central

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2022 to Question 95828, why the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator did not retrofit any social homes in the Sefton Central constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator awarded around £62m of grant funding in 2021 to social landlords across England and Scotland to test innovative approaches to retrofitting. Sefton Council did not apply to the SHDF Demonstrator and there were no other successful bids from that area.

Housing: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes in Kingston upon Hull North constituency with cavity walls have been insulated as of 31 October 2022.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes in Kingston upon Hull North constituency with lofts had had loft insulation installed as of 31 October 2022.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of homes that have had under floor insulation installed in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 31 October 2022.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of homes that have had external wall insulation installed in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 31 October 2022.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of which ward in Kingston upon Hull North constituency has had the highest proportion of homes fitted with external wall insulation.

Graham Stuart: BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) government schemes, around 800 cavity wall insulation measures, 1,400 loft insulation measures, 100 under floor insulation measures and 1,400 external wall insulation measures have been installed in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as at end of September 2022. Under these schemes, Orchard Park is the ward in Kingston upon Hull North that has had the highest proportion of external wall insulation measures installed.

Energy Bill Relief Scheme: Beer and Licensed Premises

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he plans to provide to (a) pubs, (b) social clubs (c) breweries and (d) cider and perry producers for the cost of energy once the Energy Bill Relief Scheme ends; and if he will make a statement.

Graham Stuart: HMT is currently conducting a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and evidence from care providers is included in that review. The Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will report by the end of this year.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Lancaster and Fleetwood

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes were retrofitted as a result of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency as of 31 October 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator and Wave 1 awarded a combined total of around £240m of grant funding to Local Authorities, with data held on local authority-led projects rather than at a constituency level. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Insolvency

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to ensure that company directors whose businesses close due to insolvent liquidation cannot re-open under a different company name.

Kevin Hollinrake: Directors of an insolvent business may run a similar business unless they are prevented from doing so, such as due to being disqualified or subject to a bankruptcy order. Where the system is abused, for example where a director repeatedly causes harm to creditors the Insolvency Service will investigate and, where there is evidence and it is in the public interest, bring disqualification proceedings or take prosecution action against a director. The Government is constantly seeking to improve protections to creditors and consumers. Last year, new powers were introduced to allow for the investigation and disqualification of former directors of dissolved companies, which will deter delinquent directors from abusing the dissolution process to leave creditors unpaid.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Lancaster and Fleetwood

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of homes that have been retrofitted through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency since the introduction of that fund.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator and Wave 1 awarded a combined total of around £240m of grant funding to Local Authorities, with data held on local authority-led projects rather than at a constituency level. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding his Department has provided through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 24 November 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator and Wave 1 awarded a combined total of around £240m of grant funding to Local Authorities, with data held on local authority-led projects rather than at a constituency level. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Housing: Birmingham Selly Oak

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes in Birmingham, Selly Oak constituency had heat pumps installed as of 13 December 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database shows that as of 13 December 2022, 23 heat pump installations were registered in the Birmingham, Selly Oak constituency. The database does not include all heat pump installations, for example, those installed without Government funding support, such as in new buildings. These not typically recorded in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database.

Green Deal Scheme: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many projects have been completed through the Green Deal in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 24 November 2022.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Green Deal projects were classified as live in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 24 November 2022.

Graham Stuart: BEIS estimates that at the end of October 2022, there were 38 ‘live’ Green Deal plans (all measures installed) and 22 'completed' plans (all measures installed and paid off) in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes were retrofitted with funding through the Local Authority Delivery Scheme in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 21 November 2022.

Graham Stuart: There were 150 homes retrofitted in Kingston upon Hull North constituency through the Local Authority Delivery (LAD) scheme. These figures use the same data as the latest November statistics release.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes were retrofitted using funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 24 November 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator and Wave 1 awarded a combined total of around £240m of grant funding to Local Authorities, with data held on local authority-led projects rather than at a constituency level. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Social Rented Housing: Energy

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of redeploying social housing energy efficiency funding to local authorities.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator project, launched in 2020, awarded around £62m of grant funding to Local Authorities in 2021. The Government launched Wave 1 of the SHDF in 2021 and awarded around £179m of grant funding to Local Authorities for delivery from 2022 into 2023. The Wave 2.1 competition, which closed in November 2022, will look to allocate up to £800m of grant funding to Social Housing Landlords, including Local Authorities, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Social Rented Housing: Carbon Emissions

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of instructing the Energy Efficiency Taskforce to consider the redeployment of social housing decarbonisation funding.

Graham Stuart: More details on the scope and membership of the Taskforce will be announced in due course.

Housing: Energy

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to increase the rate of energy efficiency measure installations in homes in Birmingham, Selly Oak constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Government is committed to improving the energy performance of homes across the country, including in Birmingham, Selly Oak. The Government is already investing £6.6 billion over this parliament on decarbonising heat and energy efficiency measures. An additional £6 billion of new Government funding, announced in the Autumn Statement, will be made available from 2025 to 2028. This provides long-term funding certainty, supporting the growth of supply chains, and ensuring we can scale up our delivery over time.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes have been retrofitted through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in Stockport constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator and Wave 1 awarded a combined total of around £240m of grant funding to Local Authorities, with data held on local authority-led projects rather than at a constituency level. Greater Manchester Combined Authority received approximately £10.5m grant funding to retrofit homes under the SHDF Wave 1 Project. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Leaving the EU has provided the UK with the freedom to conceive and implement laws and policies that put the UK first and the opportunity to think boldly about how it regulates its economy for the good of the country as a whole.At the start of this year, the Government set out its plans to maximise the benefits of Brexit across each major sector of the economy.So much progress has already been made, and to seize the benefits of Brexit more quickly we have introduced the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Electric Vehicles

Dr Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the strength of China’s role in the rare earth mineral supply chain on the supply of electric vehicles in the UK.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The automotive sector relies on rare earths for magnets in electric vehicle motors, and other critical minerals – like lithium, graphite and cobalt – for batteries. Of the 18 critical minerals defined in the UK criticality assessment, China is the largest producer for 12 of them as refined products. China produced 76% of rare earth elements between 2016 and 2020.[1] We are working closely with international partners in the G7, International Energy Agency and Mineral Security Partnership to strengthen and diversify our critical mineral supply chains and improve environmental and social governance – including engaging with China to achieve our objectives. [1] British Geological Survey, World Mineral Statistics Database 2022

Batteries: Factories

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an estimate of how many gigafactories manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles there will be in 2030..

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Through the Automotive Transformation Fund, Government is supporting R&D and capital investments across strategically important parts of the electric vehicle supply chain, and the Government has prioritised securing investment in battery cell gigafactories. This is key for anchoring the mass manufacture of electric vehicles in the UK, safeguarding jobs, and driving emissions to net zero by 2050.

Small Businesses: Lancaster and Fleetwood

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many SMEs in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency have received Government funding for support during the cost of living crisis.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses, including those in Lancaster and Fleetwood. Businesses in Lancaster and Fleetwood will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs on average £4,200, cut fuel duty for 12 months and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, to protect SMEs from high energy costs over the winter. The Employment Allowance was increased to £5,000 from April and we have continued to provide business rate relief worth over £7bn, freezing the business rates multiplier for a further year. The Government is providing financial support - 102 SMEs in Lancaster and Fleetwood have received Start Up Loans to the value of £866,495 as of November 2022.

Business: Lancaster and Fleetwood

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with businesses in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency on the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on those businesses.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses, including those in Lancaster and Fleetwood, and is engaging with businesses across the UK to understand these challenges and explore ways to mitigate them. The Government has reversed the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs £4,200 on average; cut fuel duty for 12 months; raised the Employment Allowance to £5,000 and introduced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which is shielding businesses across the country from soaring energy prices, saving some around half of their wholesale energy costs. We have also announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs.

New Businesses: Lancaster and Fleetwood

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities on taking steps to improve accessibility to entrepreneurship and business ownership for people with protected characteristics in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is fully committed to supporting businesses and creating the best conditions for enterprise so that everyone, whatever their background, has the means and know-how to start and grow a business. We are supporting early-stage entrepreneurs from all backgrounds through the Start-Up Loans Company which provides funding and intensive support to new entrepreneurs.Since 2012, 40% of Start Up Loans have gone to women, worth over £344m and 20% of loans worth 187m have gone to Black, Asian, and Ethnic-minority businesses. 102 SMEs in Lancaster and Fleetwood have received Start Up Loans to the value of £866,495 as of November 2022.

Small Businesses: Wakefield

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many SMEs in Wakefield constituency have received Government support in the last 12 months.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses, including those in Wakefield. Businesses in Wakefield will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs on average £4,200, cut fuel duty for 12 months and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, to protect SMEs from high energy costs over the winter. The Employment Allowance was increased to £5,000 from April and we have continued to provide business rate relief worth over £7bn, freezing the business rates multiplier for a further year. The Government is providing financial support - 309 SMEs in Wakefield have received Start Up Loans to the value of £3,833,148 as of November 2022.

Business: Wakefield

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had discussions with businesses in Wakefield on the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on those businesses.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses, including those in Wakefield. The Government has reversed the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs £4,200 on average, cut fuel duty for 12 months and brought in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which is shielding businesses across the country from soaring energy prices, saving some around half of their wholesale energy costs. The Employment Allowance was increased to £5,000 from April and we have continued to provide business rate relief worth over £7bn, freezing the business rates multiplier for a further year. We have also announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs.

Public Sector: Strikes

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the data by the Office for National Statistics entitled (a) Working Days Lost due to strike action in the public sector and (b) Working Days Lost due to strike action in the private sector, published on 13 December 2022.

Kevin Hollinrake: Strike action by its very nature is disruptive to the economy. That is why it should always be a last resort and the Government always encourages unions and employers to seek a resolution of disputes before strike action takes place. While the Government recognises the importance of the right to strike, we need to balance this against the need to protect the public and keep them safe. The Government is therefore reviewing our industrial relations legal framework to ensure that it gets this balance right. More details will be given in due course.

Nightclubs: Closures

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made a recent assessment of the reasons for trends in the level of nightclub closures; and whether he has had recent discussions with the (a) Night Time Industries Association and (b) other organisations on the potential impact of trends in the level of nightclub closures on (i) the night time economy, (ii) rates of (A) anti-social behaviour and (B) other crimes and (iii) the growth of unregulated alternative venues.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government recognises the importance of nightclubs and other hospitality businesses to the night-time economy. BEIS Ministers and officials meet regularly with the NTIA and UK Hospitality to discuss the challenges facing night time economy businesses, including high energy and cost of living pressures. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme ensures that businesses are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period, and my Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer recently announced in his Autumn Statement a range of measures to support firms with business rates worth £13.6 billion over the next 5 years, including increased and extended Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief. My Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer recently announced in his Autumn Statement a range of measures to support firms with business rates worth £13.6 billion over the next 5 years, including increased and extended Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief. The Home Office provided the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to ASB through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Postage Stamps: Prices

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) conducting a review of postage stamp prices and (b) implementing a cap on price increases of stamps.

Kevin Hollinrake: As a private business, Royal Mail’s management sets the prices for its services. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s commercial decisions. In setting prices, Royal Mail must observe the regulatory framework set by Ofcom, the independent regulator. This framework imposes prices controls, ‘safeguard caps’, on certain second-class products to ensure a basic universal service is available to all at affordable prices and users of postal services, especially vulnerable consumers, are protected from on-going price rises. Ofcom will conduct a review of the safeguard caps, including a consultation, during 2023/24.

Research: Investment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,	pursuant to Answer of 7 December to Question101725 on Research: Investment, when the ONS and his Department will (a) complete and (b) release granular regional data on R&amp;D in 2023.

George Freeman: Precise timings and details for release are a matter for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is an independent body. On 21 September 2022 they said “To aid the delivery of the levelling up agenda, we are also developing statistics showing R&D at a regional level. Producing complex figures at a regional basis can be challenging, so we are exploring innovative techniques to map where R&D is taking place, not simply where expenditure has been allocated. This work will culminate in the publishing of regional Government and business R&D expenditure statistics in early 2023.”

Science: Japan

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the press release published 14 December 2022 on global science partnership with Japan, which budget this funding has been allocated from.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the press release published 14 December 2022 on global science partnership with Japan, whether that announcement is part of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission.

George Freeman: The press release announced the launch of the first phase of the new International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF), underpinned by £119m of funding. This is non-ODA funding for R&D-eligible activity, supporting our ambition to spend £20 billion on R&D per annum by 2024/25. The specific collaboration with Japan on neuroscience, neurodegenerative diseases and dementia is also non-ODA funding for R&D-eligible activity. Relevant funding will count towards the overall spend on dementia research.

Beer: Small Businesses

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the rate of closure of small and independent breweries in the UK in the last 6 months.

Kevin Hollinrake: This Department sponsors the hospitality sector and assesses the state of that sector on an ongoing basis. We also work closely with DEFRA on support for key supply chain companies, including the UK’s small and independent breweries, and maintain regulator contact with the Society of Independent Brewers. The Government recognises hospitality businesses are facing higher costs driven by global factors, including high energy and cost of living pressures. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme ensures that businesses are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Excheuquer recently announced in his Autumn Statement a range of measures to support firms with business rates worth £13.6 billion over the next 5 years, including increased and extended Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief.

Post Office: Customs

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made a cost and benefit analysis of taking steps to ensure that the Post Office implements systems to comply with the new EU customs rules that apply following the UK's departure from the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is aware that postal operators and their sales agents are implementing systems to comply with new EU customs rules. How they do so is an operational matter for the companies concerned.

Business: Birmingham Selly Oak

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of businesses are owned by women in Birmingham, Selly Oak constituency.

Kevin Hollinrake: In the UK in 2021, 19% of SMEs with employees (a three-percentage point increase on 2020) and 20% of firms with no employees (21% in 2020) were female-led. The government does not hold regional data relating to the number or proportion of female-led business. The Rose Review is supported by the industry-led ‘Rose Review Council for Investing in Female Entrepreneurs’ that aims to coordinate industry-led action to increase investment into female-led businesses. The Government has set an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030, equivalent to 600,000 new entrepreneurs.

Business: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the (a) number and (b) proportion of businesses that are owned by women in Hull North.

Kevin Hollinrake: In the UK in 2021, 19% of SMEs with employees (a three-percentage point increase on 2020) and 20% of firms with no employees (21% in 2020) were female-led. The government does not hold regional data relating to the number or proportion of female-led business. The Rose Review is supported by the industry-led ‘Rose Review Council for Investing in Female Entrepreneurs’ that aims to coordinate industry-led action to increase investment into female-led businesses. The Government has set an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030, equivalent to 600,000 new entrepreneurs.

Business: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities on taking steps to help improve accessibility to (a) entrepreneurship and (b) business ownership for people with protected characteristics in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is fully committed to supporting businesses and creating the best conditions for enterprise so that everyone, whatever their background, has the means and know-how to start and grow a business. We are supporting early-stage entrepreneurs from all backgrounds through the Start-Up Loans Company which provides funding and intensive support to new entrepreneurs.Since 2012, 40% of Start Up Loans have gone to women, worth over £344m and 20% of loans worth 187m have gone to Black, Asian, and Ethnic-minority business and 220 SMEs in Kingston Upon Hull North have received loans to the value of £1,708,761 (as of November 2022).

Nuclear Fusion: Innovation

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to support the development of nuclear fusion technology.

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to achievement of net energy gain at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in California, US on December 5 2022, what further steps the Government will take to support the development of nuclear fusion technology.

George Freeman: The results from the US are further evidence that fusion energy has enormous potential as a clean energy source. As set out in the UK Fusion Strategy, the UK is building on scientific advances like this to deliver commercially viable fusion energy. The Government is investing over £700m in UK fusion research programmes and facilities over the next three years. In November the Government announced £42 million for the Fusion Industry Programme, which will build capability and spur commercial innovation by supporting UK businesses in solving the technical challenges of fusion, helping to. The Government also announced £84 million to continue operations at JET (Joint European Torus), the world’s most powerful fusion experiment. This autumn, the BEIS Secretary of State announced that West Burton in Nottinghamshire had been selected as the site for the UK’s STEP programme, which will design and build, by 2040, a prototype fusion power plant capable of putting electricity on the UK grid.

Postal Services: Rural Areas

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Royal Mail Group's proposal to move to five-day letter delivery on the rural economy.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government’s objective continues to be ensuring the provision of a sustainable, accessible, and affordable universal postal service. The Government has no current plans to change the statutory minimum requirements of the universal postal service which are set out in section 31 of the Postal Services Act 2011.

Department of Health and Social Care

Health: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken in the last 12 months to help tackle health inequality in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Neil O'Brien: The Department continues to review effective measures to improve life and healthy life expectancy through increasing access to health and care services.

Dental Services: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of dental practices were rated as good by the Care Quality Commission in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 16 December 2022.

Neil O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not currently rate providers of primary dental care services.  The CQC publishes an assessment against five ‘key aspects’ which determine whether a dental provider is meeting its regulatory requirements. These are:- Treating people with respect and involving them in their care;- Providing care, treatment and support that meets people's needs;- Caring for people safely and protecting them from harm;- Staffing; and- Quality and suitability of management.The CQC provides online information for the public to find local dentists and profiles, which display the regulatory performance and inspection reports.

General Practitioners: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of GP surgeries were rated as good by the Care Quality Commission in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 16 December 2022.

Neil O'Brien: As of 19 December, 13 or 81.3% of general practitioner surgeries in the Kingston upon Hull North constituency are rated as good overall by the Care Quality Commission.

General Practitioners: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of GP appointments in Hull North in the past 12 months as of 16 December 2022; and what the number was in 2013.

Neil O'Brien: This information is not collected in the format requested.

Avian Flu: Mink

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to assess the risks to human health following the (a) H5N1 avian flu outbreak on a mink farm in Spain in October 2022 and (b) cases of mink to human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms.

Maria Caulfield: A preliminary technical risk assessment for the current circulating avian influenza viruses was undertaken by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) together with the Animal and Plant Health Agency and academic partners. This included consideration of the propensity to cause mammalian and human infections and was based on both United Kingdom and international data. A full technical group has been convened by UKHSA for the ongoing risk assessment. UKHSA continues to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the public health agencies of multiple countries on emerging influenza viruses.UKHSA carries out routine genomic surveillance of COVID-19 variants. The risks from mink would come primarily from the generation of novel variants, which should they emerge would be significant only if widely transmissible from human-to-human. Novel variants of concern and variants under investigation are assessed for their risk to human health through UKHSA's standard COVID-19 epidemiological portfolio of severity. Where possible vaccine effectiveness analyses are carried out to understand whether emerging variants pose risks to the UK population. UKHSA also regularly share and receive data from WHO on emerging variants.

Coronavirus: Mental Health

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 92 of the Women’s Health Strategy, following the analysis of the written evidence submissions, what steps his Department has taken to encourage research on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on women’s mental health.

Maria Caulfield: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Subject to receiving high-quality applications, the NIHR expects to commission a policy research unit dedicated to mental health. The unit will undertake research to inform policy in this area, with the COVID-19 pandemic and related social impacts highlighted as potential topics. Applications are currently being reviewed, with the unit expected to operate from January 2024.While the NIHR has funded research on COVID-19 and mental health, no specific research has been commissioned on the impact on women’s mental health. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. It is not usual practice for the NIHR to ring-fence a proportion of its budget for research into particular topics or conditions.

Eating Disorders: Social Media

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 92 of the Women’s Health Strategy, following the analysis of the call for written evidence submissions, what steps his Department has taken to encourage research on the impacts of social media use on eating disorders, involving (a) experts in the field and (b) people with lived experience to identify (i) appropriate solutions and (ii) safeguards.

Maria Caulfield: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). While the NIHR is not currently funding any specific research, it welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including eating disorders. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. It is not usual practice for the NIHR to ring-fence a proportion of its budget for research into particular topics or conditions.

Streptococcus: Health Education

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department is taking to ensure (a) parents and (b) healthcare providers are informed about the (i) symptoms and (ii) treatment of strep A.

Maria Caulfield: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has declared a national enhanced incident to co-ordinate the public health response. The UKHSA is working with schools and general practitioners to provide information on scarlet fever and Group A streptococcus, including relevant information for parents to understand the symptoms for urgent referrals for children with more serious cases. We are undertaking research to understand how parents are responding to this information.A surveillance report and communications for the health system have been published to raise awareness among frontline clinicians. On 2 December, an alert was issued to remind clinicians of their legal duty to notify cases. Guidance has been issued to support clinical diagnosis, promote appropriate use of antimicrobials whilst ensuring patient safety.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 91 of the Women's Health Strategy, how many women with moderate to complex perinatal mental health needs have access to specialist community care.

Maria Caulfield: Specialist community perinatal mental health services are now available throughout England. The NHS Mental Health Dashboard indicates that 45,411 women accessed specialist perinatal mental health services and maternal mental health services in the 12 months to June 2022.

Mental Health Services: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of mental health specialists in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Will Quince: The NHS Long Term Plan stated the aim of increasing the mental health workforce in England by an additional 27,000 professionals by 2023/24. NHS England and Health Education England are working with local integrated care systems, including the Humber, Coast and Vale Integrated Care System, to confirm plans for service models, supply, retention and recruitment until 2024.NHS England continues to support local systems, including the Humber, Coast and Vale Integrated Care System, to develop tailored health and wellbeing offers to meet the needs of the local mental health workforce. This includes mental health hubs in each integrated care system and occupational health services which are being supported through the Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing national programme.

Perinatal Mortality: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in rates of perinatal mortality in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made.The Government’s national maternity safety ambition aims to halve the 2010 rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries in babies occurring during or soon after birth, by 2025. Since 2010, the stillbirth rate has reduced 19.3%, the neonatal mortality rate for babies born over the 24-week gestational age of viability has reduced by 36%, and the proportion of babies born preterm has reduced from 8% in 2017 to 7.5% in 2020.We have introduced targeted interventions to accelerate progress, such as the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle and the Brain Injury Reduction Programme. NHS England has also invested £127 million in National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care. This is in addition to the £95 million investment made in 2021 to fund the establishment of a further 1,200 midwifery and 100 consultant obstetrician posts. NHS England is offering funding and support to trusts to recruit an additional 300 to 500 overseas midwives in the next 12 months.

NHS: Industrial Disputes

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to meet with health sector trade unions over the industrial dispute on pay.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to invite the Royal College of Nursing to a negotiation on a pay and working conditions deal as soon as possible.

Will Quince: My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has already met with trade unions and recently invited representatives for a further meeting.

NHS: Contracts

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) ensure conflicts of interest are declared throughout any process that might be likely to result in a commissioning or contracting decision taken by an integrated care board, (b) ensure regular reporting when conflicts of interest have been identified on how they have been managed and of the outcome of (i) contract awards to organisations with a member representative on the board and (ii) other relevant commissioning processes and (c) encourage other measures to promote good governance on integrated care boards.

Helen Whately: As contracting authorities, integrated care boards (ICBs) must comply with legal requirements on conflicts of interest. The declaration, reporting and management of conflicts of interest is included in each ICBs governance arrangements.The Health and Care Act 2022 provides duties on conflicts of interest and that each ICB must set out arrangements for managing such conflicts in its constitution. Additionally, the Act requires each ICB to maintain and publish one or more registers of the interests of board members, the members of its committees or sub-committees and its employees.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to collect data on the availability of hormonal replacement therapy products (a) with and (b) without serious shortage protocols.

Maria Caulfield: We are working with suppliers of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) to collect data on the availability of their products. We are also working to improve access to demand data, including prescriptions and dispensing from the NHS Business Service Authority. This is being used to monitor whether there are shortfalls between HRT packs prescribed and HRT packs supplied by manufacturers.

Blood Cancer: Mental Health Services

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that blood cancer patients can access mental health support in (a) Enfield, Southgate constituency and (b) England.

Helen Whately: The NHS Long Term Plan states that, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including a needs assessment, an individual care plan and information and support for their health and wellbeing.The National Health Service is supporting adults experiencing cancer with access to The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) mental health services, which provides evidence based psychological therapies for people with anxiety disorders and depression.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Page 78 of the Women’s Health Strategy for England published in August 2022, what steps his Department has taken to encourage research on any long term impacts of receiving covid-19 vaccines during pregnancy.

Maria Caulfield: The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds a policy research unit on maternal and neonatal healthcare, which is conducting research on neonatal complications of COVID-19. The research aims to understand how the virus affects mothers and newborn babies and which treatments are effective. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including COVID-19 and maternal and neonatal health.

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2022 to Question 96551 on Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and the oral contribution by the then-Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Life Sciences, Official Report, 13 July 2016, column 135WH, for what reason the information which enabled the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to state that Stevens-Johnson Syndrome affects about 150 patients a year is no longer available; from where such information can now be obtained; and for what reason the MHRA has not shared with the Minister the information given by its vigilance and risk management team on 4 August 2021 in response to FOI request 21/798 on the number of reports of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome in relation to covid-19 up to 14 July 2021.

Maria Caulfield: The information provided in 2016 was obtained from an audit undertaken at that time. NHS England does not routinely collect or review data identifying numbers of patients diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continually monitors safety during the widespread use of a vaccine. The MHRA also works with public health partners to review the effectiveness and impact of vaccines to ensure the benefits continue to outweigh any possible side effects. The MHRA routinely updates the Department on COVID-19 vaccine safety.

Social Services: Reform

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the funding spent by his Department to date on preparing for the introduction of social care reforms in October 2023.

Helen Whately: We estimate expenditure of approximately £20 million to date preparing for the introduction of adult social care charging reform, of which £18.4 million has been allocated to local authorities through grant funding. The remaining funding has been allocated to central programme costs.Of the £18.4 million, £15.5 million was issued to all local authorities for the recruitment of additional assessment staff and to embed necessary technology upgrades for the charging reforms. The remaining £2.9 million was issued to five trailblazer authorities, which are due to implement these reforms at an earlier stage, to enable needs and financial assessments.

Midwives: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of midwives in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Will Quince: NHS England retains oversight of local workforce plans and is updated on vacancy rates. However, recruitment and retention is undertaken at trust level.In 2022, an additional £127 million has been invested in the National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care, including in Kingston upon Hull North. This is in addition to the £95 million invested in 2021 to fund a further 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians. The NHS People Plan focuses on improving the retention of NHS staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. In 2022/23, £45 million has been allocated to support the continuation of 40 mental health hubs, the Professional Nurse Advocates programme and expanding the NHS Practitioner Health service.

NHS: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to help tackle NHS workforce shortages in Hull North constituency.

Will Quince: The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year. This will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years and the reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention, including in Kingston Upon Hull North.

Key Workers: Housing

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues about (a) increasing the supply of key worker housing and (b) the potential benefits of NHS accommodation for newly qualified staff.

Will Quince: We have regular cross-Government discussions on key worker accommodation. Local organisations are responsible for determining the appropriate use of National Health Service estate, including surplus land. Key worker accommodation may maximise the effectiveness of the current estate and we are working with NHS England to test delivery models. NHS staff also have access to the national First Homes scheme, established in 2021, which enables key workers to purchase homes at a discount to the market value on new housing sites, paid for by developer contributions.

NHS: Migrant Workers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with NHS staff recruited from overseas about the cost of (a) living and(b) housing.

Will Quince: There have been no specific discussions. However, the Department has published guidance for health and social care staff recruited from overseas, which provides advice on finances and cost of living, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/health-and-care-jobs

NHS: Staff

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to bring forward an NHS workforce plan at the earliest opportunity.

Will Quince: The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking into account improvements in retention and productivity.

Surgery: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of cancelled operations in Kingston upon Hull North constituency in the last 12 months.

Will Quince: This information is not collected in the format requested.

Streptococcus: Antibiotics

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that pharmacies across the country have sufficient supplies of the antibiotics used to treat strep A.

Will Quince: The Department is working urgently with manufacturers and wholesalers to explore what can be done to expedite deliveries and bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it is needed, to meet demand as quickly as possible and support access to these vital medicines.Further, Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) have been issued across the United Kingdom for penicillin medicines, which will help mitigate local supply issues by allowing pharmacists to supply alternative forms of the medicine, or alternative antibiotics, if they do not have the product stated on the prescription.

Food Poverty

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the trend in the number of people who have skipped meals due to the cost of food.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the trend in the number of people who have eaten cold food due to the cost of cooking hot food.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the trend in the number of people who have eaten food past its use-by-date due to the cost of food.

Neil O'Brien: The independent Food Standards Agency has published a monthly Consumer Insights Tracker survey since April 2020, which is available at the following link: https://www.food.gov.uk/research/behaviour-and-perception/consumer-insights-tracker

General Practitioners: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of GP practices open in Hull North as of 16 December 2022; and what the number was in December 2013.

Neil O'Brien: In December 2013, there were 25 practices registered in Kingston upon Hull North delivering services in 15 sites and in December 2022, there were 16 practices delivering services from 14 sites. Practices close for a variety of reasons, including practice mergers or retirement. A reduction in practice numbers does not indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice closes, patients are informed and advised to register at another local practice of their choice. Practices and commissioners ensure that affected patients have access to general practitioner services.

Dental Services

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve patient access to (a) technology and (b) staff at dental practices.

Neil O'Brien: In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care in England. On 25 November 2022, the Department introduced legislation to amend the National Health Service dental contract to more fairly remunerate dentists for complex treatments and improve access for patients. NHS dentists are also required to update practice profiles at NHS.UK more frequently to ensure patients have accurate information on accessing care. We are working with the sector and NHS England on further improvements to increase patient access and reduce health inequalities.

Health: Screening

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to implement the recommendations of the NHS Health Check programme review, Preventing illness and improving health for all: a review of the NHS Health Check programme and recommendations, updated on 9 December 2021.

Neil O'Brien: The Department is modernising the NHS Health Check to deliver the recommendations made in the review. This includes an evaluation of digital NHS Health Checks trialled in Cornwall to inform the development of a national programme.

Dentistry: Higher Education

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of increasing the practical requirements for dentistry courses at universities.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made. The General Dental Council (GDC) is the regulator of dental professionals in the United Kingdom. The GDC set the standards for education and training and each dental school determines its own undergraduate curriculum to meet those standards, through the GDC’s quality assurance processes.

General Practitioners: Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the investment needed in additional GP capacity in (a) the Witham constituency; and (b) Essex over the next (i) five and (ii) ten years.

Neil O'Brien: ‘A five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan’ was agreed with the British Medical Association and provides clarity on funding for practices until 2023/24. This was updated in 2020 to invest and an additional £1.5 billion to create a further 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 through increasing and diversifying the workforce. The current framework ends in April 2024 and future funding for general practice, including to support capacity, will be considered in due course.

Dentistry: Retirement

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of dentists retiring in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: No specific estimate has been made as data on the number of dentists retiring each year is not held centrally.

Ophthalmic Services: Special Educational Needs

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what visits have been made by NHS England officials to the NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service as part of their evaluations of that service.

Neil O'Brien: No officials from NHS England have visited National Health Service special schools as part of the evaluation as this has been conducted independently by the South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit. NHS England officials have visited special schools during the operation of the proof-of-concept programme to better understand the needs and environment in which the children were learning.

Coronavirus: Immunosuppression

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2022 to Question 97699 on Coronavirus: Immunosuppression, what the clinical guidance is to enable clinicians determine what constitutes exceptional circumstances in order for the antiviral Sotrovimab to be prescribed for immunosuppressed individuals.

Will Quince: Recent guidance from the World Health Organization indicates that Sotrovimab does not neutralise the currently circulating COVID-19 variants and subvariants. NHS England has reviewed the clinical access policy for this drug which may still be considered as a treatment option where other available antiviral treatments are unsuitable.Sotrovimab will now be prescribed by exception only where its use is supported following a multi-disciplinary team assessment. The revised clinical policy is available at the following link:https://www.cas.mhra.gov.uk/ViewandAcknowledgment/ViewAlert.aspx?AlertID=103218

Disability Aids

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) supply chains, (b) manufacturing costs and (c) procurement processes on the waiting time for patients to receive mobility equipment.

Will Quince: The Department regularly monitors the continuity of supply to patients. While a number of global factors have impacted the supply of mobility aids, these pressures are alleviating. A large proportion of mobility aids are recovered and reconditioned by providers in the United Kingdom. In addition, alternatives are often available where individual suppliers may experience disruption to supply. Any price increase by suppliers will have been considered according to standard public procurement processes.

Medical Equipment: Certification

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the capacity of (a) UK Conformity Assessment Bodies and (b) EU Notified Bodies to conduct timely accreditation and certification of medical devices.

Will Quince: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is supporting an increase in approved body capacity to ensure the United Kingdom can transition all medical devices to the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking system. The MHRA also works with international regulators and organisations to enhance the reputation of the UKCA mark and prevent disruption to the UK’s supply of medical device products. The MHRA is working with the already designated approved bodies, those organisations applying for this status and industry to assess whether this will deliver the required capacity.We are engaging with industry partners to understand capacity issues within the European Union notified body system, which may impact the supply of devices to the UK market and assess what further action may be required to maintain supply of medical devices.

Immunotherapy

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the NHS will only fund many immunotherapy treatments for a maximum of two years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will allow immunotherapy to be funded indefinitely where it is found to have a beneficial effect on patients; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: The clinical trials for many immunotherapy treatments licensed and recommended for use in the National Health Service in England were based on uninterrupted treatment for a maximum of two years. There is insufficient evidence to show that continued treatment beyond two years provides additional clinical benefit. This aligns with evidence submitted to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) by the pharmaceutical company and the cost-effectiveness of treatment beyond this timescale is not known.When developing clinical treatment criteria, NHS England considers the evidence base on which products are licensed and approved for use, in addition to with the considerations of NICE’s appraisal committee.

Cardiovascular Diseases: Mortality Rates

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment NHS England has made of the reasons for an increase in the level of excess cardiovascular deaths since 2019.

Helen Whately: Evidence on excess mortality attributable to non-COVID-19 related causes implies that cardiovascular mortality is likely due to a combination of factors. This may include disruption to routine care during the first two years of the pandemic, lifestyle factors and disruption to emergency care and urgent elective procedures.

Strokes: Health Education

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase awareness of stroke symptoms in younger people.

Helen Whately: The Act FAST campaign aims to raise awareness of stroke symptoms and applies to all age groups. We also work with the Stroke Association and Different Strokes, which works with younger stroke survivors, to share resources for the Act Fast campaign and raise awareness of the early signs of a stroke.

Social Services: Protective Clothing

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Minister of State for Social Care's Answer to the Question from the hon. Member for South Shields at Health and Social Care questions on 6 December 2022, Official Report, column 203, when the updated guidance for the social care sector on the use of face masks will be published.

Helen Whately: As of 15 December 2022, adult social care guidance has been amended to support a risk-based approach to mask wearing. This has replaced previous guidance that stated face masks should be worn at all times across adult social care.

Blood Cancer: Health Services

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10-year cancer plan will include specific plans to support patients with blood cancer.

Helen Whately: Following the call for evidence for a 10 year cancer plan earlier this year, we received over 5,000 submissions. We are currently reviewing these responses.

Blood Cancer: Health Services

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of delays in diagnosis on the treatment of blood cancers.

Helen Whately: No formal assessment has been made. The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including in cancer services. NHS England is providing additional support for trusts to deliver the commitments for cancer services in the plan.

Parkinson's Disease: Health Services

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the adequacy of multidisciplinary support for Parkinson's care across UK (a) regions and (b) nations.

Helen Whately: No specific assessment has been made.

Palliative Care: Training

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that health and care providers prioritise training on how to support people who are dying; and what steps he is taking to ensure that education and training providers deliver this training to a high standard.

Helen Whately: Individual providers are responsible for ensuring that staff are appropriately trained and competent for their role. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022, which references education and training to support high quality palliative and end of life care. Health Education England provides training through the ‘End of life care for all’ e-learning programme and is developing a end of life care core skills education and training framework with Skills for Health and Skills for Care.

Palliative Care

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to palliative care services and end of life care services in the community in response to changes in the number of deaths at home since the beginning of the pandemic; and if he will make a statement.

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to (a) ensure integrated care boards apply statutory guidance on the provision of palliative care and (b) have sufficient support in the community to respond to changes in the number of deaths at home.

Helen Whately: During the pandemic, approximately £356 million was distributed to palliative and end of life care providers, including hospices.Palliative and end of life care services are commissioned locally and NHS England publishes statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022. The guidance includes references to community approaches and service provision in community settings.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer on 13 December to Question 96638 on Breast Cancer: Screening, by which date he expects the data to be validated.

Helen Whately: NHS England has advised that the information requested is collected for management purposes and it has no plans to validate the data.NHS Digital will publish data on the breast screening programme in England 2021/22 in February 2023. This will include data on women invited for breast screening, coverage, uptake of invitations, outcomes of screening and cancers detected.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 91 of the Women's Health Strategy, in what way the provision of specialist community perinatal mental health services has been increased since the publication of that strategy.

Maria Caulfield: The NHS Long Term Plan committed to ensure that at least 66,000 women with moderate to severe or complex perinatal mental health needs have access to specialist community care by 2023/24 and to establish maternal mental health services. Specialist community perinatal mental health services are now available throughout England. The deployment of maternal mental health services has continued and we aim for these services to be available across England by March 2024.

Mental Health Services: Mothers

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy and effectiveness of maternal mental health services.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made. However, we are expanding access to psychological and talking therapies within specialist perinatal mental health services. This includes 33 new maternal mental health services, comprising of psychological therapy, maternity services and reproductive health for women with mental health needs following trauma or loss related to their maternity experience. These services will be available throughout England by March 2024.

Menopause: Research

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 84 of the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published in August 2022, whether his Department has taken steps to encourage research on the reasons women from certain groups are more likely to experience early menopause.

Maria Caulfield: The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Subject to receiving high quality applications, the NIHR expects to commission a new policy research unit dedicated to reproductive health. The new unit will undertake research to inform policy in areas such as menstruation and gynaecological conditions, including menopause. The brief for the emerging unit stated that research related to disparities in reproductive health service access and outcomes across geographies, protected characteristics and inclusion health groups should be prioritised. Applications are currently being reviewed and the unit is expected to operate from January 2024.The NIHR has commissioned a menopause research prioritisation exercise, which is considering research recommendations from experts, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the UK Menopause Taskforce. The exercise is also considering the priority areas identified through the Women’s Health Strategy’s call for evidence, including identifying the reasons for earlier menopause in women in specific population groups. Following completion of the exercise, we expect that research will be commissioned in summer 2023.

Menopause

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the NHS since the publication of the Women’s Health Strategy for England in August 2022 on how to ensure that (a) healthcare professionals in primary care are well-informed about the menopause and (b) other healthcare professionals including (i) cardiologists and (ii) neurologists have a basic understanding of menopause.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England’s Menopause Improvement Programme is developing education and training materials for healthcare professionals, including working with the Wellbeing of Women charity on tools to ensure more women are advised to seek support earlier in the menopause. The Royal College of General Practitioners has also developed a women’s health toolkit to support general practitioners, which includes resources on the menopause.

IVF: Research

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Page 78 of the Women’s Health Strategy published in August 2022, what steps his Department has taken to encourage research into the evidence on IVF add-on treatments.

Maria Caulfield: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it has an agreement with 10 professional and patient bodies on the principles of responsible innovation, which states that the fertility sector should continue to improve the standards of treatment by compiling evidence for treatment add-ons. This is intended to inform consensus on how add-ons should be offered to patients. The HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee continues to monitor the evidence base for treatment add-ons and makes recommendations to the HFEA.

Pregnancy: Research

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 78 of the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published in August 2022, following the analysis of the call for evidence written evidence submission, what steps his Department has taken to encourage research on the effectiveness of AI technologies to help predict which pregnancies will develop life-threatening foetal growth restriction.

Maria Caulfield: The Department is funding research projects on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies which can address complications in pregnancy through the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award. This includes projects by the University of Oxford to develop fully automated ultrasound tools to screen for foetal growth restriction in the first trimester by analysing the size of the placenta. In addition, we have recently announced we will fund the University of Bristol to trial a clinical decision tool to reduce placental disorders in pregnancy in National Health Service trusts.

Infant Mortality: Research

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 79 of the policy paper entitled Women's Health Strategy for England, CP 736, published on 30 August 2022, whether his Department has taken recent steps to support research on the (a) effectiveness of tools to monitor a baby’s health in utero and (b) prevention of infant deaths.

Maria Caulfield: The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds a policy research unit dedicated to maternal and neonatal health and care. The NIHR funds research in maternal and neonatal health focusing on the safety of maternity and neonatal services and the national maternity ambition to halve maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths and brain injury by 2025.The NIHR has funded research on fetal monitoring, including the Listen2Baby study on improving monitoring during uncomplicated labour, a study exploring prediction of fetal growth restriction and complications and a study on preventing sudden unexpected deaths in infancy through assessment and planning tools for families at increased risk.

Maternity Services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust Independent Review

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Final report of the Ockenden review published 30 March 2022, what steps he has taken to implement that report's recommendations.

Maria Caulfield: Following the publication of the Ockenden Review’s final report in March 2022, NHS England sent a letter to trusts setting out the actions in response to the report’s findings. An investment of £127 million was announced, in addition to the £95million announced in 2021, to fund further workforce expansion, leadership development, capital to increase neonatal cot capacity, additional support to Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems and retention support. The Department and NHS England have established an Independent Maternity Working Group, chaired by the Royal Colleges, as recommended by the report. The Group are providing advice and guidance on the implementation of the Immediate and Essential Actions from the report which will be incorporated into the Single Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Service to be published in 2023.

Maternity Services: Equality

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the £6.8 million allocated to local maternity systems to co-produce and implement equity and equality action plans on maternity services.

Maria Caulfield: In autumn 2022, each local health system submitted an equity and equality action plan to NHS England. NHS England has reviewed these plans to ensure that the requirements of the equity and equality guidance for local maternity systems have been met. Information from the review process will be used to understand whether additional support is required to support the implementation of the plans. The guidance includes process and outcome indicators for each action, which will determine the impact and extent of the plans.

Care Homes: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of care homes were rated as good by the Care Quality Commission in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 16 December 2022.

Helen Whately: As of 19 December 2022, 22 or 75.9% of care homes in the Kingston upon Hull North constituency were rated as good overall by the Care Quality Commission.

Health Services

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure there is interventional radiology and oncology representation at every relevant organ specific multidisciplinary team to encourage patient choice.

Helen Whately: Each multidisciplinary team (MDT) should include the full range of health professionals required to best inform and plan the most appropriate treatment options for the patient. This would include appropriate oncologists for cancer patients and an interventional radiologist where interventional radiology is an option in the care pathway. NHS England will be reviewing and updating service specifications to ensure that all relevant specialists are involved in MDTs to optimise patient care.

Dementia: Diagnosis

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on reducing regional disparities in the dementia diagnosis rate.

Helen Whately: NHS England has commissioned the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network to investigate the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates in targeted areas in England. This includes the assessment of population characteristics such as rurality, ethnicity and age to provide context for any variation and enable targeted investigation and local support to enhance diagnosis rates. These findings are currently being tested through dementia clinical networks and it is anticipated that data will be published in Quarter 4 2022/23.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to include information on all available cancer treatments on the NHS website to enable patients to make an informed choice on their care.

Helen Whately: NHS.UK currently contains information on 50 types of cancer based on recent and recognised clinical evidence, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines and other sources. Each cancer topic is reviewed on a three-year cycle, in addition to monthly reviews of NICE’s guidelines to identify new approved treatments or care.

Hospices: Children

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date his Department will announce the decision on the Children’s Hospice Grant 2023-24.

Helen Whately: NHS England is currently completing the governance processes necessary to administer the Children’s Hospice Grant in 2023/24. It is anticipated that this process will be completed by early February 2023. Following completion, NHS England will communicate Grant allocations to hospices.

Social Services: Finance

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to introduce (a) increased funding for social care and (b) other social care reforms.

Helen Whately: The Government is providing up to £7.5 billion over two years to support adult social care and discharge with up to £2.8 billion available in 2023/24 and £4.7 billion in 2024/25.In spring 2023, the Government will publish a plan for adult social care system reform.

Social Services: Fees and Charges

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has received recent evidence from local authorities on their readiness to implement his Department's policy to introduce a cap on the lifetime costs of social care.

Helen Whately: The Department has worked with local government to prepare for the implementation charging reforms by October 2023. This included gathering information on preparedness through webinars, workshops, a survey and other engagement activities. Having listened to the concerns of local government, the Government has delayed the planned adult social care charging reforms until October 2025.

Gynaecological Cancers: Screening

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to improve access to screening services for gynaecological cancers since the publication of the Women’s Health Strategy.

Helen Whately: The UK National Screening Committee has considered evidence to screen for gynaecological cancers and there is currently a national screening programme for cervical cancer. The ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign focusing on abdominal and urological symptoms launched on 31 October 2022 and aims to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many smear tests provided by the NHS were performed in (a) England, (b) London and (c) Enfield North constituency in each year since 2015.

Helen Whately: A table showing the number of individuals aged 25 to 64 years old tested via the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England, London and Enfield in each year since 2015 is attached.Number of smear tests since 2015 (docx, 19.0KB)

NHS: Corporate Governance

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to apply the proposed Integrated care systems requirement not to appoint individuals to the board who could reasonably be regarded as undermining the independence of the health service to all NHS bodies.

Will Quince: The Health and Care Act 2022 has provisions for integrated care boards (ICBs) to set out processes for board membership in its constitutions. The 2022 Act requires each ICB to maintain and make available to the public one or more registers of the interests of board members, members of the committees or sub-committees and employees.Other National Health Service bodies are responsible for their own governance processes, including regarding board membership and there are no plans to review these arrangements further.

Continuing Care: Waiting Lists

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to help support people waiting for appointments for long-term medical conditions, including neurology, to help prevent them sustaining secondary injuries.

Will Quince: In February 2022, NHS England launched the My Planned Care platform to provide advice and support to patients to manage their health while awaiting appointments. This platform includes advice on movement, medication and mental health. The National Health Service is increasing elective capacity and improving patient pathways to reduce avoidable delays in care. This includes establishing community diagnostic centres and expanding surgical hubs to improve diagnosis and waiting times for treatment for patients with long-term conditions, including those with neurological conditions. NHS England is developing further guidance to support local health systems to provide personalised and targeted support for patients and their carers to manage symptoms, prevent deterioration and recover effectively from treatment.

Neurology: Waiting Lists

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to reduce waiting times for neurology appointments.

Will Quince: The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including neurology services. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity.  In addition, the autumn statement provided a further £3.3 billion in 2023/24 and in 2024/25 to support the NHS and ensure that waiting times of more than a year are eliminated by 2025. NHS England has established a dedicated ‘Action on Outpatients’ programme to support providers and systems to accelerate new and existing initiatives to improve services and outpatient waiting times, including for neurology patients. The Getting It Right First Time programme published a national report for neurology in September 2021. The report made recommendations on improving access to care for patients with neurological disorders, improving outpatient referrals and triaging system to reduce clinical waiting times and address variation across the NHS. NHS England is encouraging systems and providers to implement these recommendations and tailor best practice pathways according to population needs and local priorities. NHS England’s neuroscience transformation programme has worked with stakeholders to identify good practice and to improve access to services for people with a range of neurological conditions.

Cancer: Health Services

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to expand cancer treatment capacity within the NHS.

Helen Whately: The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including cancer services. The plan aims to ensure that the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following suspected cancer will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. The Government has allocated more than £8 billion to the NHS in England from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity, including cancer services.

Health Services: Strikes

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) nurse and (b) rail strikes on patients requiring life-saving treatment.

Will Quince: NHS England is working with providers, professional bodies, trade unions and other bodies to agree the safe level of staffing during any industrial action. The National Health Service will ensure emergency care is prioritised and these services will be available. The Royal College of Nursing has announced that critical care units, such as intensive care and high dependency, are exempt from strikes. The Department for Transport is in regular contact with other departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care and industry, to mitigate impact of rail strike action on essential services.

NHS: Labour Turnover

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS staff retention rates.

Will Quince: National Health Service employers are expected to have local retention plans in place, informed by guidance and the 2020 NHS People Plan. NHS England’s national retention programme seeks to understand why staff leave and provide targeted interventions to support staff to stay. Line managers are supported with information on induction, reward and recognition, menopause support and resources to support colleagues in late and early career. In July 2022, NHS England asked each NHS organisation to prioritise the delivery of five actions on nursing and midwifery retention, which includes enhanced support for those joining the NHS, menopause support and improved advice and guidance for those later in their career with flexible working and pensions. The Department has also commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.

NHS: Labour Turnover

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the financial cost to the public purse of staff leaving the NHS to be employed in NHS roles on a contract basis through agencies.

Will Quince: No specific estimate has been made. However, the deployment of a flexible workforce allows the National Health Service to meet short term increases in demand and staff can be drawn from internal staff banks or external agencies. Our policy is to reduce the use of agency staff and to prioritise in-house staff banks. With NHS England, we will continue to monitor expenditure on agency staff and support trusts to develop effective staff banks. Since 2015, we have controlled agency spending through price caps and procurement frameworks and trusts can only override capped agency rates on exceptional patient safety grounds.

NHS: Industrial Disputes

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the NHS Pay Review Body on the level of resources needed to settle the industrial dispute with the health sector unions.

Will Quince: The independent Pay Review Body process is the established mechanism for determining pay increase in the public sector, including staff working in the National Health Service. We have accepted the Pay Review Body recommendations in full for 2022/23 and we will seek its recommendations for staff in scope for 2023/24.

NHS: Sick Pay

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the current sick pay policy for NHS staff with long covid.

Will Quince: There are no current plans to make a specific assessment. The temporary non-contractual COVID-19 guidance in place during the pandemic has been withdrawn. Staff who received COVID-19 sickness pay have returned to the usual National Health Service terms and conditions, of up to six months full pay and six months half pay, depending on length of service.

Nurses: Cost of Living

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he has made an assessment of the impact of (a) housing and (b) cost of living costs on nurses pay in areas where there is a high cost of living; and what assessment he has made of the wider impact the cost of living is having on staffing levels of NHS employed staff and engagement with agency staff.

Will Quince: The Pay Review Bodies consider a range of factors including cost of living and inflation, recruitment, retention, morale and value for the taxpayer when making recommendations for National Health Service pay. Staff employed directly in the NHS may also benefit from High Cost Area Supplements which pays an additional premium to staff working in London to recognise the higher cost of living in this area. Employers are providing additional support including access to hardship loans, subsidised childcare, free food and drink and financial wellbeing advice. The NHS retention programme seeks to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well. All NHS trusts have tailored retention programmes, including focusing on career development and training pathways to retain staff.

Radiology: Staff

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to include radiologists and interventional radiologists in the NHS workforce strategy to ensure there are sufficient numbers of trained interventional radiologists to deliver interventional oncology therapies.

Will Quince: The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, including radiologists and interventional radiologists. Health Education England are implementing the priorities identified in the cancer workforce plan phase one and are investing an additional £50 million in 2022/23 to expand the cancer and diagnostics workforce, including postgraduate medical training of cancer-related medical professions, such as diagnostic and interventional radiologists.

Drugs: Prices

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had to adjust concession prices for any medicines in the last month.

Will Quince: We did not have to adjust any concessionary prices that were granted. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiations Committee is the representative body for pharmacy contractors and can submit concessionary price requests, on behalf of pharmacy contractors, where they are unable to purchase products at or below the reimbursement price in the Drug Tariff.

Life Expectancy: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of life expectancy in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of healthy life expectancy in Hull North.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made.

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in reference to page 92 of the Women’s Health Strategy following the analysis of the call for evidence written evidence submission, what steps has his Department taken to encourage research on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder prevalence rates.

Neil O'Brien: The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes applications for research into any aspect of human health, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, where selection criteria include importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Retained EU Law Bill, whether he plans to (a) repeal, (b) reform and (c) retain the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.

Neil O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Walthamstow on 8 December 2022 to Question 105306.

General Practitioners: Surveys

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2022 to Question 104474 on Health Services: Travellers, whether his Department is taking steps to help improve engagement with the GP Patient Survey for people from Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller backgrounds.

Neil O'Brien: NHS England are working to increase engagement with the GP Patient Survey overall by making the survey as accessible as possible, to encourage as many people to respond as possible.A number of initiatives have been tested and implemented to improve response rates, including post card reminders, now upgraded to text message reminders, updating the invitation letters with messaging which encourages people to take part and adding the National Health Service logo to the envelope to increase the credibility of the survey.The survey sample used is drawn from the Personal Demographics Service (PDS), which does not hold information on patients’ ethnic group. As NHS England do not have the ethnic group information at the time of sampling, they are unable able to implement targeted approaches.Although the latest survey data has relatively small numbers of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller respondents, the findings are still valuable at a national level, and they demonstrate the different experience of those communities.

General Practitioners: Surveys

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2022 to Question 104474 on Health Services: Travellers, if he will make a comparative assessment of the level of engagement with the GP Patient Survey by (a) Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people and (b) the overall population in the latest period for which data is available.

Neil O'Brien: There are no plans to make a specific assessment. The survey sample derived from the Personal Demographics Service, which does not hold information on patients’ ethnic group and therefore the number of people in each ethnic group invited to participate.

General Practitioners: Surveys

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2022 to Question 104474 on Health Services: Travellers, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the GP patient survey is accessible to people with low levels of (a) literacy and (b) digital illiteracy.

Neil O'Brien: Ipsos conduct the survey on behalf of NHS England and works with the Plain English Campaign on the questionnaire and survey letters to ensure the material are easy to understand, using clear and simple language. A telephone helpline is also available to assist participants to complete the survey and an easy read information sheet provides more information on the survey the assistance available. In addition, the survey can be completed on paper to ensure it is accessible to those with low levels of digital literacy.

Dental Services: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children under the age of (a) four and (b) 11 were admitted to hospital for tooth extraction due to decay in Kingston upon Hull North constituency in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: This information is not held in the format requested.

Health: Children

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the relationship between child poverty, diet and wellbeing.

Neil O'Brien: While no specific assessment has been made on the relationship between child poverty, diet and wellbeing, findings from the 2021/22 National Child Measurement Programme annual report show the prevalence of obesity for children in the most deprived areas continues to be more than double that of those in the least deprived areas.The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities monitors quantitative information on food consumption, nutrient intakes, nutritional status and related characteristics in the general population through the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Since 2021, food security questions have been included in the NDNS.The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) advises the Government on nutrition and health. SACN’s risk assessments and advice include specific reference to health inequality issues and vulnerable groups, such as infants, the elderly and ethnic minorities.

Life Expectancy

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help extend healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains the Government's policy to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy between areas where it is highest and lowest by 2030.

Neil O'Brien: The ambition to improve healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035 and reduce the gap by 2030 remains Government policy. A significant proportion of ill-health is preventable. We are focusing on the major conditions which contribute to early mortality and reduce years of good health and factors such as smoking, poor diet and alcohol which disproportionately impact some communities.The measures include the ambition for England to be smoke-free by 2030 and addressing obesity through working with the food industry to ensure it is easier to make healthier choices and to increase progress on the reformulation of foods. We will set out more information on plans to address health disparities in due course.

Food Poverty: Energy

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the rising cost of energy on trends in the level of families being unable to feed themselves.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made. However, in winter 2022/23 we have provided £55 billion to assist households and businesses with energy bills. A typical household will save approximately £900 through the Energy Price Guarantee, in addition to the £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme.We are also allocating £9.3 billion over the next five years on energy efficiency, making homes easier and cheaper to heat. We will provide £26 billion for cost-of-living support in 2023, including the £900 cost of living payment for eight million poorer households. We have also increased the National Living Wage for two million workers to £10.42, or over £1,600 a year for a full-time employee aged 23 years old and over.

Dentistry

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether integrated care boards will be responsible for the recruitment and retention of NHS dentists.

Neil O'Brien: Integrated care boards will not be responsible for the recruitment and retention of National Health Service dentists. NHS dentists are independent contractors commissioned to undertake NHS dental treatment.We are addressing recruitment and retention in dentistry through reforms which came into effect on 25 November 2022 to make the NHS dental contract more attractive. NHS England is holding discussions on further improvements to the NHS dental system with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders groups and additional reforms will be implemented in April 2023.

Tobacco: Sales

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will hold a consultation on raising the age of sale of tobacco products in the UK.

Neil O'Brien: We are currently considering the recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete’ and further information will be available in due course.

Department for Education

Department for Education: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Robert Halfon: Although no formal assessment has been made of the impact of the UK's departure from the European Union (EU), the department has continued to deliver successful policy outcomes, both internationally and domestically, since the EU exit. As EU countries are responsible for their own education and training systems, few of the department’s education policies were dependent upon being a member of the EU.

Schools: Staff

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) tackle staff shortages in primary schools and (b) improve recruitment in all areas of schooling after the covid-19 outbreak.

Nick Gibb: The number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 full time equivalent (FTE) working in state funded schools across the country. This is over 24,000 more than in 2010.2021 saw an increase of more than 4,400 in FTE teachers in state funded schools in England. This has resulted in the largest qualified number of teachers since the school workforce census began in the 2010/11 academic year.One of the Department’s priorities is to ensure that it continues to attract, retain and develop highly skilled teachers. The Department launched its new digital service, ‘Apply for teacher training’ last year, enabling a more streamlined, user-friendly application route, to make it easier for people to become teachers. The Department remains committed to delivering £30,000 starting salaries to attract and retain the best teachers.The Department is also taking action to enable teachers to succeed through transforming its training and support. The Department will deliver 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by the end of 2024, giving all teachers and head teachers access to evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career.The Department’s reforms are aimed not only at increasing teacher recruitment across all areas, but also at ensuring teachers stay and succeed in the profession. The Department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, and support all schools to introduce flexible working practices. These resources include the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which the Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing, and the school workload reduction toolkit, developed alongside head teachers. The Charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter, and the toolkit is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.This year, the number of new postgraduate entrants to primary teaching was below target by 7%. Despite this, the Department has seen strong recruitment in primary in recent years, achieving 131% of the postgraduate teacher training target in the 2021/22 academic year, and 125% in the 2020/21 academic year.The Department recognises there is further to go in key secondary subjects. For those starting initial teacher training in the 2023/24 academic year, the Department is offering bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage talented trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects. The Department has increased bursaries and scholarships for trainees in key subjects and has expanded the offer to international trainees in languages and physics.The Department also offers a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools.

Oak National Academy

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2022 to Question 104365 on Oak National Academy, if he will publish the non-statutory curriculum guidance that will be provided to Oak National Academy.

Nick Gibb: As outlined in the Oak National Academy framework document, Oak will have due regard to the Department’s non statutory curriculum guidance. The Department does not intend to provide Oak with any specific non statutory guidance but expects Oak to remain abreast of existing and new published non statutory guidance as it becomes available.

Religion: Curriculum

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to introduce a national compulsory curriculum for religious education.

Nick Gibb: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The Government has no plans to introduce a national compulsory curriculum for religious education (RE).The Government’s policy is to allow RE curricula to be designed at a local level, whether that is through locally agreed syllabuses or by individual schools and academy trusts developing their own curricula. It will remain for individual schools to plan, organise and deliver their curriculum.

Free School Meals: Eligibility

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to change the threshold of eligibility for free school meals.

Nick Gibb: The Department continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support. The Department will continue to keep free school meal (FSM) eligibility under review, ensuring that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the Department believes that the current level, which enables pupils to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.

Free School Meals: Migrants

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in households with no recourse to public funds have been provided with free school meals in the period since 1 September 2022.

Nick Gibb: Free school meals (FSM) eligibility was extended permanently to children from all No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) households subject to income thresholds, from the start of the 2022 summer term. These pupils are recorded in school census returns in the same way as the wider FSM cohort and are not identified separately.From June to July 2022, the Department ran a claims process allowing schools to attract pupil premium funding for pupils who became newly eligible for FSM as a result of the extension to NRPF households. The most recent data on the number of NRPF pupils who were claimed for through this process can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023.

Religion: Secondary Education

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to reverse recent reduction in the recruitment of secondary teachers of Religious Education; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Data from the School Workforce Census shows that the number of religious education teachers in the academic year 2021/22 was 15,529, the highest number since 2016/17.The Department publishes postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT) trainee targets on an annual basis. The targets for PGITT trainees to start training in 2022/23 were published in April 2022, and performance against those targets was reported within the Initial Teacher Training Census publication on 1 December 2022.The final PGITT trainee target for religious education in the academic year 2022/23 was slightly reduced to 450 compared to 470 in the previous academic year.The Department has no plans to revise the 2022/23 religious education PGITT trainee target, but will review it again next year as part of an annual cycle.The Department recognises the need for schools to have a sufficient supply of teachers qualified to teach basic curriculum subjects and continues to take action to improve teacher supply. The Department is investing in attracting the best teachers where they are needed most.

Religion: GCSE

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities entered the (a) highest and (b) lowest proportion of their year 11 cohort for GCSE Religious Studies in the 2022-23 academic year.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not hold information related to the number of pupils entering GCSE Religious Studies exams for the 2022/23 academic year. This will be available from Autumn 2023.The closest available information is the percentage of pupils in each Local Authority entered for GCSE Religious Studies in the 2021/22 academic year. This can be found in the attached file.In the 2021/22 academic year, the Local Authority with the highest percentage of pupils entering GCSE Religious Studies was the Isles of Scilly with 86.7%, but this is based on only 15 pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. The next highest percentage was for Tower Hamlets, with 81%. The Local Authorities with the lowest percentage were Wakefield and Somerset. Both entered 14.4% of pupils for GCSE Religious Studies. Table for Religious Studies by Local Authority (xlsx, 26.4KB)

Pupils: Asylum

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any additional financial or other support is provided to schools that are educating minors who are claiming asylum and where (a) English is not their first language or (b) they do not understand a basic level of English.

Nick Gibb: Schools are responsible for ensuring that all their pupils, including those who are classed as having a first language other than English, or do not understand a basic level of English, can access the full curriculum and have an opportunity to achieve their potential.Through the English as an additional language (EAL) factor in the national funding formula (NFF), schools are allocated funding for pupils who are classed as having EAL and who have started in the state funded education system in England within the last three years. This equates to an additional £565 per primary school pupil and £1,530 per secondary school pupil in 2022/23 (rising to £580 per eligible primary pupil and £1,565 per eligible secondary pupil in 2023/24). The NFF will distribute a total of £410 million through the EAL factor in the current financial year.Schools have flexibility over how they use their overall funding budget to support pupils with EAL, as they are best placed to understand and respond to the particular needs of their pupils.

Pupils: Attendance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a requirement that schools assign an attendance code to register pupils not attending for reasons relating to the long-term effects of coronavirus.

Nick Gibb: COVID-19 had a significant effect on pupils' wellbeing, education and attendance, and the Government recognises that the health of some students continues to be affected.The national attendance and absence codes enable schools to record and monitor attendance and absence in a consistent way and are used to collect statistics through the school census system.It has been a longstanding practice that where a pupil is absent due to illness, schools will use code I (illness) to record the absence. Illness is not broken down to include specific types of illness, and the Government has no plans to change this for any single condition.The Department continues to monitor the effect of COVID-19 through a range of channels, including the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey, and support the recovery of children and young people from the disruption of COVID-19 through a multi-year programme with almost £5 billion made available for education recovery.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding provision for early years settings.

Claire Coutinho: In the 2021 Spending Review the department announced additional funding for early years of £160 million in 2022/23, £180 million in 2023/24 and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year.The department has recently announced that we will invest an additional £20 million into early years funding in 2023/24, on top of the additional funding announced in the 2021 Spending Review. Taken together, this will help support providers at a national level with the additional National Living Wage costs associated with delivering the free childcare entitlements next year. The department will also be investing an additional £10 million into Maintained Nursery School supplementary funding from 2023/24.In 2023/24, local authorities are set to receive average funding increases of 3.4% for the 3- and 4-year-old free childcare entitlements and 4% for the 2- year-old entitlement, compared to their 2022/23 rates.The department has again increased the early years pupil premium, which for 2023/24 will provide up to £353 per eligible child per year to support better outcomes for disadvantaged 3- and 4-year- olds. The department has also increased the Disability Access Fund, which will be worth at least £828 per eligible child per year.The department continues to engage with sector stakeholders and local authorities to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places and sustainability of the early years sector.

Food: Pre-school Education

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made of the potential merits of including sensory food play as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Claire Coutinho: The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to age five.Currently, there are no plans to add any mandatory requirements regarding sensory food education into the EYFS.The department has published an article promoting sensory food education. This supports childminders, nursery leaders and pre-school practitioners to look at incorporating sensory food education into their practice, while delivering the statutory EYFS requirements. The sensory food education article can be found here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/get-help-to-improve-your-practice/sensory-food-education.

Further Education: Finance

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made towards implementing the streamlining of funding set out in the Skills Act 2022.

Robert Halfon: In July 2021, the department first consulted on proposals to reform the adult skills further education (FE) funding and accountability systems. The views from this consultation shaped the next phase of the reform proposals and a second consultation set out in greater detail the proposed reforms and how these could be implemented.In the second consultation, the department set out proposals to simplify the funding system through a single Skills Fund. This will include funding for Adult Education Budget (AEB) provision, Community Learning and Free Courses for Jobs - Level 3. To give sufficient time, the department will introduce the Skills Fund in academic year 2024/2025 and will be maintaining the AEB in 2023/2024. This was announced on 14 December 2022 in an ESFA Update. More information on this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-14-december-2022/esfa-update-further-education-14-december-2022.The second consultation also set out proposals to simplify funding which supports new investment, by moving to a Single Development Fund for all development funding in the next Spending Review; and the creation of a new set of funding rates for adult skills, to both simplify, and boost, funding for training in areas of greatest skills need.The second consultation closed in October 2022 and the responses have helped to shape the reforms that the department will make to adult skills funding and the accountability system for FE in England. A formal response will be published in due course.

Further Education

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with further education colleges on the reclassification of colleges as public sector institutions by the Office for National Statistics.

Robert Halfon: Since the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced in May 2022 their review of the classification of the further education sector in England, departmental officials have engaged with colleges and the college sector representative bodies, and we have taken account of their feedback throughout.On 29 November 2022, when the ONS announced the outcome of their review, the department wrote to college principals setting out how the changes to classification would affect them and how the government would support colleges. The department has also since spoken to representatives from the Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form College Association and to a number of college principals. The Education and Skills Funding Agency wrote to all college accounting officers with more detail on new processes and departmental officials published a government response on GOV.UK. We have held webinars attended by over 300 college representatives, and attended and spoke at the Landex conference.The department is continuing to keep the sector informed as we move beyond the announcement into a more business as usual state, and will be working closely with colleges to inform development of a new college financial handbook.

Further Education: Finance

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to provide additional funding to further education colleges in the next 12 months.

Robert Halfon: Further education (FE) colleges can benefit from the additional £3.8 billion that the department is investing in FE and skills over this parliamentary session to ensure people across the country have access to the skills they need to build a fulfilling career in jobs the economy needs.This includes an extra £1.6 billion for 16-to-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year, compared with 2021/22 - the biggest increase in 16-to-19 funding in a decade. This will help to fund the additional students anticipated in the system, 40 extra hours per student, and provide an affordable increase in funding rates per 16-to-19 student, including an up-front cash boost which will see the national rate of funding increase by over 8% in 2022/23, from £4,188 to £4,542 per student.The department is continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), with £1.34 billion of funding in the 2022/23 academic year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.Through the National Skills Fund worth £2.5 billion over the course of the parliament, the department has made funding available to FE colleges across the country to deliver Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs. The Free Courses for Jobs offer enables learners without a level 3 qualification (or learners with any qualification level but earning below the National Living Wage) to gain a qualification for free. FE colleges will also have the opportunity to bid to deliver Skills Bootcamps next year. National competitions initially focused on digital training will be launched in the new year. Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Economic Partnership areas had the opportunity to apply for funding to commission training providers, including FE colleges, to deliver training that addresses local labour market priorities.The department is committed to supporting more employers in using apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need, and to supporting more people to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer. To support more employers and learners to access apprenticeships the department is increasing funding for apprenticeships in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year.The department is also investing £2.8 billion of capital funding for skills over the Spending Review period, including to improve the condition of FE estates, create more post-16 places and support the rollout of T-Levels.  In addition, following the ONS decision to reclassify FE colleges last month, in April 2023 we will be investing an additional £150 million for colleges to improve the condition of their estates.

Special Educational Needs: Bexleyheath and Crayford

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of educational choice for parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.

Claire Coutinho: Bexley, the local authority in which Bexleyheath and Crayford falls, has a statutory responsibility under the Children and Families Act 2014 for keeping their local offer of services and provision for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) under review. This should be done in co-production with parents, young people and educational providers. It is for local authorities to ensure there are sufficient school places for all pupils, including those with SEND. Under the Act, parents or young people have the statutory right to request that a particular school, further education college, or other educational institution is named in their education, health and care plan.In March 2022, the department announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations amounting to a new investment of over £1.4 billion. This funding is to support local authorities to deliver new places for academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25, and to improve existing provision for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. This funding forms part of the £2.6 billion we are investing between 2022 and 2025 and represents a significant, transformational investment in new high needs provision. It will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. It will also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Private Sector

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2022 to Question 88986 on Prisons, whether privately operated prisons are required to have a Regime Management Plan.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2022 to Question 88986 on Prisons, what activities must be provided under a full regime in privately operated prisons.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2022 to Question 88986 on Prisons, what limitations are put in place when a privately operated prison is not fully staffed.

Damian Hinds: There is no contractual requirement for privately managed prisons to have Regime Management Plans. The terms of each privately managed prison contract require the provider to support the rehabilitation of offenders through a safe, decent and secure regime. HMPPS contract management teams provide assurance that the prison provides safe, decent and secure services in accordance with the contract.Regimes must include, but are not limited to: education, training and work; interventions and offending behaviour programmes; resettlement activities; and peer support rolesEach privately managed prison will determine regime delivery based upon available resources, and risk assessment.

Euthanasia

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing the law on assisted dying.

Edward Argar: The Government has no plans to review the law on assisted dying. It remains our view that any change to the law in this sensitive area is a matter for Parliament to decide and an issue of conscience for individual parliamentarians rather than one for Government policy.The Health and Social Care Select Committee launched an inquiry on assisted dying on 5 December and the Government will consider the Committee’s report in due course.

Prisoners on Remand: Sentencing

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of defendants on remand who have refused to attend their sentencing hearing.

Edward Argar: This information is not centrally recorded and to obtain it would involve a manual interrogation of prisoner records which would result in a disproportionate cost to the department.

Dominic Raab

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints officials in his Department have received on his conduct while he was Secretary of State for his Department.

Mike Freer: The Prime Minister has appointed Adam Tolley KC to conduct an independent investigation into formal complaints that have been received about the Rt Hon. Member for Esher and Walton. Six of those complaints relate to his role as Secretary of State for Justice and it would not be appropriate to comment further during the investigation.

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Mike Freer: Leaving the EU has provided the UK with the freedom to conceive and implement laws and policies that put the UK first. At the start of this year, the Government set out its plans to maximise the benefits of Brexit across each major sector of the economy and transform the UK into the best regulated country in the world.Leaving the EU has also meant that the UK is free to pursue its own independent trade policy and trade agreements. The Ministry of Justice represents the UK legal sector’s interests overseas by improving and maintaining market access for UK lawyers practicing internationally by securing legal services provisions in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Since leaving the EU we have secured legal services provisions in a number of FTAs including with Australia and New Zealand. We will continue to seek world leading provisions on legal services in ongoing and upcoming FTA negotiations where this will deliver benefit to the UK legal services sector.I am also actively engaging with key stakeholders in the sector both at home and abroad, including the Law Society of England and Wales, the Law Society of Scotland, the American Bar Association, and law firms across the UK, to understand the sector’s priorities. This is to ensure that we [HMG] are working effectively with the sector to remove barriers to trade in legal services and to increase UK legal services exports globally.The UK is a global leader in Private International Law (PIL) and outside the EU we have now regained competence in PIL matters. Private International Law arrangements support the confidence of businesses to trade and invest across borders, underpinning economic growth and access to justice.That is why we are taking advantage of new freedoms to sign agreements and seek opportunities to strengthen arrangements with our international partners. The government has published a consultation on whether the UK should be party to the Hague 2019 convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgements and in due course we will be publishing the government response to the consultation on whether the UK should sign and ratify the 2018 Singapore Convention on Mediation to support our world-leading mediation sector.

Treasury

Financial Institutions: Taxation

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to introduce a windfall tax on financial institutions which have made unexpected excess profits in the last 12 months.

John Glen: The financial services sector already faces certain specific forms of taxation; for example, there are two additional taxes faced by banks. The Bank Corporation Tax Surcharge is an additional charge on banking profit above a set allowance, and the Bank Levy is charged on banks’ balance sheets with equity and liabilities over £20 billion. Since the introduction of the Bank Levy in 2011, these two taxes have raised over £37 billion in additional revenue from the banking sector.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for July 2021, for which team was an away day facilitated at the Kia Oval on 2 July 2021;what activities were involved, and how many individuals took part.

James Cartlidge: This event was planned for the Financial Services Group; and was subsequently postponed, due to the increased numbers of UK COVID cases.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for September 2021, how many individuals at what grades received management coaching sessions from Pearn Kandola Digital on 22 September 2021.

James Cartlidge: Two members of HMT’s Senior Civil Servants grade attended the coaching sessions provided by Pearn Kandola Digital on 22 September 2021.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for July 2021, for which individuals was accommodation purchased at the (a) Hotel Danieli on 6 July 2021 and (b) Hotel Bonvecchiati on 8 July 2021; for how many nights that accommodation was purchased; and what was the purpose of their stays at those hotels.

James Cartlidge: In both instances accommodation was purchased for 3 nights for members of HMT attending the G20 summit.

Night-time Economy: Government Assistance

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support night time industries.

James Cartlidge: The Government continues to support night time industries and the wider hospitality sector.The Autumn Statement 2022 announced a package of changes to business rates worth £13.6bn over the next 5 years in lower bills. This includes a freeze to the multiplier, scrapping the downward revaluation cap and extending and increasing the generosity of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) Relief from 50% to 75% in 2023-24, up to £110,000 per business.This is in addition to the Energy Bills Relief Scheme (EBRS), which discounts businesses’ energy bills until 31 March 2023; the increased Employment Allowance of £5,000, which takes the smallest 40% of businesses out of paying any National Insurance at all; and setting the Annual Investment Allowance at £1 million permanently. This is a comprehensive package of support which will help protect businesses such as pubs, cafes, and nightclubs.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for October 2021, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose was of the taxi services for which TBR Global Chaffeuring was paid £3,600 on 29 October 2021.

James Cartlidge: The services of TBR Global Chauffeuring were procured to transport civil servants/ministers/advisors during COP26 as no government cars were available.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500, what items of IT/Office equipment were purchased from Wex Photo Video on (a) 26 February 2021, (b) 8 March 2021, (c) 15 March 2021, (d) 6 May 2021 and (e) 14 September 2021; and for what purpose each item is used by his Department.

James Cartlidge: The following equipment was purchased from Wex Photo Video:  Transaction Amount (£)Transaction DateDescriptiona1,890.3526/02/2021Various cables/chargers & IT itemsb378.0108/03/2021Canon Dual Battery Charger of Camera/Video batteriesb2,564.8408/03/2021Photographic Equipment/Accessoriesc3,723.9415/03/2021Canon EOS C70 Camcorderd2,262.9206/05/2021Canon RF 70-200mm Lense3,104.7514/09/2021Camcorders The equipment is for internal shooting live streams.

Tobacco: Taxation

Paul Girvan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) relevant stakeholders on the potential merits of introducing a polluter pays levy on the tobacco industry.

James Cartlidge: The Chancellor regularly engages with his Cabinet colleagues and stakeholders on a range of issues. The Treasury has previously carried out a consultation on introducing a levy on tobacco manufacturers and importers and published its response in September 2015. It is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464795/PU1814_Tobacco_Levy_final_v3.pdf Following the consultation, the Government decided not to introduce a tobacco levy. However, all taxes are kept under constant review.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for April 2021, how many individuals at what grades received training sessions from Rada Business on (a) 12 February 2021 and (b) 23 April 2021.

James Cartlidge: The training sessions provided by Rada business on (a) 12 Feb 2021 and (b) 23 Apr 2021 were attended by; (a) 18 members of staff at various grades across the groups.(b) 8 members of staff at various grades across the group.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for November 2021, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose was of the services purchased from UK Crown Removals for £3,993 on 16 November 2021.

James Cartlidge: The above mentioned expenditure was for the taking down and rehanging of art (Government Art Collection) in the No.11 lobby, staircase & State room. The Treasury has a facilities team but on this occasion, specialist services were needed given that these were valuable government assets.

Carbon Emissions: Finance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to incorporate lessons learned from the recent UK Investment Bank local lending pilots into government policy on financing Net Zero.

James Cartlidge: The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) has a mandate to tackle climate change and support regional and local economic growth across the UK. UKIB has launched three pilot programmes with Transport for Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and Bristol City Council to support the development of its Local Authority Advisory Function. UKIB has processes in place to regularly review progress on these pilots and identify replicable elements of these projects, with a view to disseminating this knowledge to a wider pool of local authorities. The Bank is operationally independent but has developed an open dialogue with both HM Treasury and BEIS, including sharing their experiences of the development of their advisory and local lending functions.  In the first Strategic Steer to UKIB published in March of this year, the then-Chancellor set expectations that the UKIB should work constructively with government and institutions in each nation of the UK to maximise the impact of its investments and to develop a nuanced understanding of market characteristics, so investments can be targeted appropriately.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose was of the conference and training services purchased from (i) Make Life Simple Ltd. for £3,655 on 21 April 2021 and (ii) Art of Brilliance Ltd. for £1,440 on 29 July 2021.

James Cartlidge: The nature of these costs were for external speakers as part of the (i) GFA Spring Festival (ii) Government Social Research event.

UK Trade with EU

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Article 103 of UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, what assessment he has made of the steps taken by the European Union to reduce the time and costs for (a) all businesses and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises since that agreement came into effect.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to growing the UK’s economy by making the most of our Brexit freedoms to boost UK businesses, which is why the Government is aiming to cut £1 billion of red tape for UK businesses and ease regulatory burdens.The Government has provided approximately £8.4 million to UK Businesses through the SME Brexit Support Fund. This has enabled over 4,100 businesses to pay for practical support to adjust to new customs and VAT rules when trading with the EU. All businesses can get answers to practical questions about exporting to Europe by accessing the Government’s Export Support Service via GOV.UK.The UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provides for a range of customs cooperation between the UK and EU, including on simplifying and modernising our customs procedures, facilitating transit movements, and ensuring that traders are clear on how to move goods smoothly between our respective borders. UK officials across departments regularly meet traders to solicit feedback and, where businesses are facing customs barriers when exporting the EU, these are raised with EU counterparts under established channels.

Sanctions: Russia

Mr Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s Annual Review, April 2021 to August 2022, how many warning letters have been sent by the OFSI since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

John Glen: The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) does not hold complete data on ‘warning letters’ as a sub-category of case closures since the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. However, OFSI has recorded case closures where it has been acknowledged that no breach occurred, where warnings or advice have been given, and where stakeholders have been put on notice to improve compliance. As of September, 33 case closure letters had been issued in 2022.

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation: Staff

Mr Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s Annual Review, April 2021 to August 2022, whether the OFSI has expanded to around 100 staff.

John Glen: OFSI has expanded to around 100 full-time employees, accelerating and enhancing the ambitious transformation programme it already had underway. HM Treasury and OFSI have been at the front and centre of an unprecedented financial sanctions response to Russia’s unprovoked and unwarranted attack on a sovereign nation, which brought war back to Europe.

Cryptocurrencies: Regulation

Damien Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing further regulations for (a) cryptocurrency exchanges and (b) other aspects of cryptocurrency markets.

John Glen: The UK is committed to creating a regulatory environment in which firms can innovate, while crucially maintaining financial stability and regulatory standards so that people and businesses can use new technologies both reliably and safely. The Financial Services and Markets Bill will bring stablecoins within the regulatory perimeter where they are used as a form of payment. This legislation will ensure that the UK’s regulatory framework is equipped to harness benefits of stablecoins, supporting the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, while mitigating the potential risks. HM Treasury will consult on an approach to regulating a wider set of cryptoasset activities in the coming weeks.  The Financial Services and Markets Bill also ensures that cryptoassets may be regulated within the existing financial services regulatory framework. In addition to this, in January 2022 the government published a response to a consultation on a proposal to bring certain cryptoassets into the scope of financial promotions regulation. The forthcoming legislation, and supporting FCA rules, will regulate in-scope cryptoasset financial promotions, requiring them to be fair, clear and not misleading.

Treasury: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500, what items of equipment were hired from Hireacamera.com Ltd. on (a) 2-4 June 2021 and (b) 2 November 2021; for what tasks that equipment was hired, and for what reasons the equipment owned by his Department was not considered suitable for those tasks.

James Cartlidge: The equipment hired were cameras and lenses used at (a) G7 event (b) Cx event. The costs associated to (a) were deposits which were reimbursed to HMT between 10-16 July 2021.

Poverty: Children

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Statement, CP 751, published on 17 November, what reason the Statement did not use the phrase child poverty and what provisions in the Autumn Statement are designed to reduce child poverty.

John Glen: The Government announced decisive action at Autumn Statement to support millions of families with rising energy costs. To protect the most vulnerable in society, the government will also increase benefits in line with inflation (10.1%) from April 2023, benefiting millions of families who receive Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit. Households on means-tested benefits will also receive an additional £900 Cost of Living Payment in 2023-24. The Government will also provide an additional £1 billion to enable a further twelve-month extension to the Household Support Fund, as well as continued universal support via the Energy Price Guarantee. The Government has consistently said that the best way to support families’ living standards, and ensure that children grow up in an environment that allows them to fulfil their potential, is through good work, better skills, and higher wages. This is why, at Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced it will bring forward the nationwide rollout of the In-Work Progression offer, from September 2023. This will mean that over 600,000 Universal Credit (UC) claimants in-work will meet with a dedicated work coach so that they have support to increase their hours or earnings and become financially independent from UC. In addition, the Government confirmed at Autumn Statement that, from April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over, in line with the government’s ambitious target for the NLW to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. This represents an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over 2 million low paid workers.

Climate Change: Government Assistance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor for the Exchequer, whether he will commit to bringing forward a support package for local authorities to be able to adapt and protect communities against the impacts of climate change.

John Glen: The 2023-24 Local Government Finance Settlement provides an increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities of around 9%, making available almost £5 billion in additional funding, demonstrating how Government stands behind councils up and down the country. As democratically elected organisations, local authorities are responsible for managing their budgets and making spending decisions that reflect their priorities. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is responsible for stewardship of the local government system and is committed to ensuring that funding allocations for councils are based on an up-to-date assessment of their needs and resources.

Sanctions: Russia

Mr Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s Annual Review, April 2021 to August 2022, who the eleven designated persons removed from the Russian regime Consolidated List were.

John Glen: Between 22 February and 24 August 2022, 11 entries designated under the Russia financial sanctions regime were removed from the Consolidated List. The Consolidated List was updated following changes to the UK Sanctions List, published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 6 entries were removed from the Consolidated List as they were identified to be duplicates of existing entries. The original entries remain on the Consolidated List and the respective individuals remain subject to an asset freeze. These persons are: Maya Nikolaevna BOLOTOVASergey Yurevich KUZOVLEVAleksander Aleksandrovich MIKHEEVSergey Alexandrovich PAHOMOVMikhail Vladimirovich RAZVOZHAYEVYury Leonidovich VOROBYOV In the same period, the following 3 entries were removed from the Consolidated List and are no longer subject to an asset freeze: Olga AYZIMANYakov Vladimirovich REZANTSEVGalina ULYUTINA The following entries were removed from the Consolidated List on 15 July 2022 and subsequently readded on 2 August 2022: Didier CASIMIROZeljko RUNJE

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for June 2022, what was the (a) nature and (b) purpose of the services for which LizardKen was paid £2,468.60 on 7 June 2022.

David Rutley: The payment was for photographic services provided by Kenton Thatcher Photographer to support the British Embassy Lisbon's Queen's Platinum Jubilee Exhibition 2022 and the Queen's Birthday celebration event.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s published data on government procurement card spend over £500 for September 2022, what was purchased from Arbikie Highland Estate on 20 September 2022; and for what purpose was that purchase used.

David Rutley: This was a dinner hosted by the Department for International Trade during an offshore wind study visit by Polish parliamentarians, Polish wind industry association, Polish media and embassy staff, UK officials and the Scottish Government Trade Envoy to Poland.The aim was to further UK-Poland offshore wind collaboration and raise the profile of the UK offshore wind supply chain and UK developers bidding for new Polish offshore wind sites. Arbikie was chosen because of its proximity to the Montrose offshore wind facility, also because it allowed a guided demonstration of the first distillery to be powered by hydrogen and so complement presentations on UK hydrogen projects.

Somalia: Journalism

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he makes of the equity of the (a) judicial process applied in the case of Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate, and (b) impact on the efficacy of the Somalian Government’s campaign against Al-Shabaab of recent detentions of journalists; and if he has raised Mr Mumin’s case with his counterpart in Somalia.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and journalists must be allowed to do their jobs without fear and intimidation. The UK is defending media freedom in Somalia by supporting protection for Somali journalists, including by providing media training that focuses on improving relations between journalists and security forces. We continue to urge the new Somali Government to amend the 2020 Media Law to enable the media to report independently without risk of retribution. We have raised media freedom consistently in recent weeks with the Somali Government and South West State leadership.

Somalia: Military Aid

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) the US and (b) Turkey about including and strengthening (i) protection of civilians and (ii) gender equality training within training given to the Somali army.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is a major security partner of Somalia, working with the US, Turkey and others to counter al-Shabaab, build the capacity of Somali forces and support the transition to Somali-led security. The protection of civilians and gender equality are central to our security engagement and interventions, including through engagement with the Government in Somalia, and mandating pre-deployment gender equality training for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia and Somali security forces personnel. The UK also advocates that military planning for security operations against Al-Shabaab should minimise humanitarian impacts and that all security actors should respect International Humanitarian Law, including the protection of civilians. This approach aligns with the recently published UK humanitarian framework.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which energy provider supplies energy to their Department; how much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is; and what recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: FCDO's UK energy suppliers are contracted via the Cabinet Office's Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework. There are two suppliers on the Supply of Energy and Ancillary Services agreement (Supply of Energy and Ancillary Services - CCS (crowncommercial.gov.uk)): EDF Energy Limited for Electricity and TotalEnergies Gas and Power Limited for Natural Gas. FCDO takes advantage of available renewable energy options under CCS frameworks.Information on FCDO's greenhouse gas emissions data and actions taken to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impacts are published annually in the Sustainability Report sections of FCDO's 2021-22 Annual Report and Accounts (Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 (publishing.service.gov.uk) (pages 81-93).

Sierra Leone: Civil Disorder

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the President of Sierra Leone on taking steps to provide legal representation to people detained after the riots in August 2022.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: As a close friend of Sierra Leone, the UK holds regular frank discussions with senior government interlocutors, international partners and other key stakeholders on governance, the rule of law, stability, and the importance of a free and fair election in 2023. We condemn acts of political violence and urge all to work collaboratively to reduce tensions. I (Minister Mitchell) spoke with the President of Sierra Leone in London on 22 November 2022 about the importance of the upcoming election and Sierra Leone's democratic process. I reiterated this message in a meeting with the Minister of Basic and Senior Education at the PSVI conference on 28 November.

Sierra Leone: Elections

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the (a) UN and (b) EU on (i) support for the Sierra Leone Electoral Commission and (ii) ensuring the 2023 elections in that country are peaceful and democratic.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: As a close friend of Sierra Leone, the UK holds regular frank discussions with senior government interlocutors, international partners and other key stakeholders on governance, the rule of law, stability and the importance of a free fair election in 2023. We condemn acts of political violence and urge all to work collaboratively to reduce tensions. I spoke with the President of Sierra Leone in London on 22 November 2022 about the importance of the upcoming election and Sierra Leone's democratic process. I (Minister Mitchell) reiterated this message in a meeting with the Minister of Basic and Senior Education at the PSVI conference on 28 November.

Somalia: Development Aid

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting the protection of civilians in areas re-captured from al-Shabab through (a) ensuring that aid recipient communities inform the process of aid distribution and (b) building bridges between clans by enabling them to make joint decisions about where aid is delivered; and whether his Department is providing support to work of these kinds as part of its response to the food security crisis in Somalia.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to assess the conflict risks associated with aid delivery in Somalia for (a) his Department, (b) other donors and (c) non-governmental aid delivery partners.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: As part of our departmental approach to risk, we regularly assess the impact of conflict on UK aid programmes and partners in Somalia and how best to mitigate risks. As a leading donor, we also discuss conflict risk to humanitarian operations with other donors, the UN and non-governmental organisations.The UK advocates at all levels of the Somali Government that military planning for security operations against al-Shabaab should minimise humanitarian impacts and that all security actors should respect International Humanitarian Law, including the protection of civilians. This approach aligns with the recently published UK humanitarian framework.The UK supports stabilisation efforts in Somalia, for example through our Early Recovery Initiative, which works with local authorities, supports local political reconciliation and supports the immediate needs of vulnerable communities.

Somalia: Reconstruction

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what scenario planning exercises his Department has undertaken to help promote (a) peacebuilding, (b) security, (c) development and (d) stabilisation in Somalia after the end of the military offensive in that country.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the risks posed by any failure to stabilise areas of Somalia recaptured from al-Shabab to (a) the Somalian Government’s ability to combat al-Shabab and (b) security in the wider region, including Kenya and Ethiopia.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) risks to civilians in areas of Somalia recently recaptured from al-Shabab, (b) ways of improving the mitigation of those risks and (c) potential merits of mitigating those risks through increased development support from his Department.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK recognises the importance of stabilisation to security in Somalia and the region. We coordinate closely with international partners, the UN, and the Somali Government to understand the needs of communities in areas recently recovered from al-Shabaab and to support stabilisation efforts, including through our Early Recovery Initiative. The UK advocates at all levels of the Somali Government that military planning should minimise humanitarian impacts and that all security actors should respect International Humanitarian Law, including the protection of civilians. Last month, I [Minister Mitchell] met the Somali Defence Minister and National Security Adviser and raised the need for robust planning to provide for the needs of vulnerable communities during and after military operations. The FCDO leads regular cross-government discussions regarding the UK's support to peacebuilding, security, development and stabilisation in Somalia.

Armed Conflict: Offences against Children

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the implementation of the Government’s new Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Strategy prioritises accountability for conflict-related sexual violence against children.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Strategy prioritises justice for survivors, including children, as one of four key objectives. As part of strategy implementation, the UK is delivering a new £8.6 million initiative - A.C.T (Accountability Commission & Taskforce) for Survivors - that will support national authorities deliver justice. The initiative aims to bring together expertise and best practice, build capacity, improve national implementation, and increase support to survivorsWe continue to use our permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) membership to ensure conflict-related child protection issues remain a key part of UNSC discussions and that UN operations address child protection issues, including conflict-related sexual violence.

Somaliland: British Council

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of opening a British Council office in Hargeisa.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: For a decade the UK has been the only Western bilateral donor with a permanent diplomatic presence in Hargeisa. UK cooperation with Somaliland covers a broad range of areas, including supporting its development and security, enhancing stability and promoting economic, human and social development through a network of cross-Government resources. The British Council is operationally independent from the UK Government.

Somalia: Politics and Government

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help increase state capacity for the Government of Somalia.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is a longstanding partner of Somalia. As debt relief champion, we are working to reduce Somalia's debt burden, unlocking finance for service delivery. We have supported customs revenue collection and helped build public resource management systems. The UK is the third largest humanitarian and a major health donor in Somalia. We have provided over £1 billion in support since 2016. We are a major security partner, working with others to counter al-Shabaab, build capacity and support the transition to Somali-led security. On a recent visit to Somalia I [Minister Mitchell] met President Hassan Sheikh, and we discussed the UK's ongoing support to Somalia's security and prosperity.

Vietnam: Religious Freedom

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking steps to help protect and promote freedom of religion in Vietnam.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all is one of the UK's longstanding human rights priorities. On 22 August the UK joined six other diplomatic missions in Vietnam in a statement marking the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. The UK-Vietnam Strategic Partnership Agreement commits to cooperation on human rights, and at the annual Ministerial Strategic Dialogue we discuss concerns related to FoRB. We look forward to working together with Vietnam to promote human rights around the world as they join the Human Rights Council in 2023.

India: Religious Freedom

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with her counterpart in India on religious violence.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief for all and promoting respect and tolerance between communities. We condemn any instances of discrimination because of religion or belief, regardless of the country or faith involved. Reports of violence against religious minorities are a matter for the Indian police and legal system. However, we raise issues directly with the Government of India where we have them, including at Ministerial level. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, Minister for South Asia, also regularly speaks with the High Commissioner of India, and freedom of religion or belief forms part of that dialogue.

Nigeria: Politics and Government

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor (a) the political situation in Nigeria and (b) preparations for the general election in that country.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Our High Commissioner to Nigeria and her staff regularly meet with a wide range of stakeholders to understand the political situation in Nigeria. We work closely with government and civil society partners to help promote peace, strengthen democracy and to provide strategic and programmatic support ahead of the elections in February 2023. Since 2019, we have provided over £2 million to Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission to enhance its capacity and processes to deliver free, fair and credible elections. I [Minister Mitchell] have also begun a series of meetings with Nigeria's presidential candidates to understand their priorities.

East Africa: Humanitarian Aid

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral evidence given by the Minister of State (Development and Africa) to International Development Committee on 6 December, HC 891, whether the funds committed to the East Africa region in humanitarian aid will be subject to the cuts referenced by the Minister in this financial year.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is a sizeable humanitarian donor to East Africa. We are committed to supporting communities affected by crises, and humanitarian support comprises a major component of our Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budgets across East Africa. We are committed to transparency with the public and predictability with our partners and we intend to provide an update on planned ODA allocations and humanitarian commitments this financial year in due course.

Iran: Demonstrations

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to call for the establishment of an independent investigative mechanism by the United Nations into the civil protests in Iran.

David Rutley: The UK co-sponsored the Human Rights Council resolution to establish a UN investigation into human rights violations committed by the Iranian regime during recent protests. This passed at a Special Session of the Council on 24 November. The UK also worked closely with the US on removing Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which was achieved on 14 December. We continue to press Iran at every opportunity over its brutal suppression of protests in Iran.

Pakistan: Refugees

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to provide funding to Pakistan to help support Afghan refugees in that country.

Leo Docherty: Following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan an estimated 300,000 Afghans arrived in Pakistan. The UK has provided £6.5 million to support refugee preparedness in Pakistan through the World Food Programme, United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, supporting communities hosting refugees to provide health services and additional nutritional support. The UK supports the Government of Pakistan to support refugees and encourages the inclusion of refugees in services provided to the wider population.

Libya: IRA

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his planned timetable is for the publication of the independent report by William Shawcross on compensation for victims of Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism.

David Rutley: The UK Government reiterates its sympathy for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism and indeed for all victims of the Troubles. The Government set out its position on Mr Shawcross's report on compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism in a Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 March 2021. Mr Shawcross's report was commissioned as an internal scoping report, to provide internal advice to Ministers. Its content is based on private, confidential conversations and information shared on this basis. The Government will not be publishing the report. The responsibility for providing compensation specifically for the actions of the Qadhafi regime lies with the Libyan State. The Government has repeatedly urged the Libyan authorities, including at the highest levels of the Libyan government, to engage with UK victims and their representatives and to address their claims for compensation.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Trade

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff in his Department have been allocated to deal with issues related to international trade in (a) each of the past five years and (b) the next two years; and if he will make a statement.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) works to promote a free and fair global trading system and provides diplomatic and international engagement support to Department of International Trade efforts to secure world-class trade agreements, advising on all aspects of foreign and development policy. FCDO also works with HMG partners to build effective economic partnerships, seize opportunities from investment and free trade, and unlock the mutual advantages of growth.In September 2022, the Economic Security Directorate headcount (UK Based staff only), which covers staff working on the above objectives, was 100-119; in September 2021 it was 120-139. Prior to September 2021, data for staff working on trade in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was not recorded centrally. Following the Autumn Budget, the FCDO will be launching detailed Business & Country Planning and Workforce Planning processes, that will help determine workforce requirements from 2023-24 onwards.

Alaa Abdel Fattah

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help secure consular access to Alaa Abd El-Fattah.

David Rutley: Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah obtained British Citizenship in December 2021. The Egyptian authorities have repeatedly stated that they do not recognise Mr El-Fattah's British nationality and continue to refuse consular access, which was first requested in December 2021. There have been frequent follow-up requests, including at the highest levels. The Prime Minister raised consular access when he spoke to President Sisi on 7 November. The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa has also raised Mr El-Fattah's case on a number of occasions, most recently on 5 December with the Egyptian Ambassador.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many appointments for urgent repairs in Force's accommodation were missed by the (a) Amey and (b) VIVO each month since January 2022.

Alex Chalk: The Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS), accommodation contract came into service on 1 April 2022, therefore, data for Service Family Accommodation can only be provided from this date, which can be found below. Amey 10,535 urgent task appointments were missed outside of the 1 hour appointment window. A further breakdown of this figure in the format requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost. Vivo MonthNumber of Missed Appointments for Urgent RepairsApril13May19June2643July283August173September172October266November336December to 15/12/2022136TOTAL4,041 Please note that the spike of missed appointments in June was caused by an issue where VIVO’s IT system was not receiving appointments being transferred by Pinnacle.This information is not available for Single Living Accommodation (SLA) as due to the nature of SLA, appointments are not required to be made.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the performance of Pinnacle Group’s management of service family accommodation in the period since March 2022.

Alex Chalk: All three Future Defence Infrastructure Services accommodation suppliers (Pinnacle, Amey and VIVO) have rectification plans that are being monitored closely by the Defence Infrastructure Organisaiton, as performance has been significantly below acceptable levels.

Ministry of Defence: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Mr Ben Wallace: NATO is the foundation of collective security in the Euro-Atlantic area, where our commitment to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty remains our most powerful deterrent. We recognise the important role played by the EU in the peace and prosperity of Europe and welcome its efforts where it can complement NATO for the overall benefit of Euro-Atlantic security. The UK remains fully committed to Euro-Atlantic security. We are increasing our defence budget by over £24 billion over this four year spending period and ensuring we continue to be the highest European spender in NATO. We will continue to work with our European neighbours and allies bilaterally, through NATO, OSCE, small groups (such as the Joint Expeditionary Force) and with the EU to defend our common values, counter shared threats and build resilience in our neighbourhood.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many calls related to flooding in forces accommodation have been received by the National Service Centre since January 2022.

Alex Chalk: The Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS), accommodation contract came into service on 1 April 2022, therefore, data can only be provided from this date.Since the 1 April 2022, VIVO have received six flood reports and Amey have received seven flood reports. However, four of Amey's flood reports were incorrectly categorised as they related to burst tanks or pipes.

Fleet Solid Support Ships: Shipbuilding

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2022 to Question 61035 on Fleet Solid Support Ships: Shipbuilding, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the procurement process.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2022 to Question 61035 on Fleet Solid Support Ships: Shipbuilding, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the procurement process on the British shipbuilding sector.

Alex Chalk: The procurement process for the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships is being conducted strictly in accordance with the relevant UK public procurement legislation and rules. The Department is committed to continuous reform of its procurement process to ensure it continues to deliver the best possible value for money. The decision to appoint Team Resolute as preferred bidder was founded on a thorough evaluation of the bids in a fair and open competition and the outcome supports the objectives of the National Shipbuilding Strategy through significant capital investment in the UK. The investment the FSS contract will bring is set to leverage the UK's position in the global market for both shipbuilding and equipment and systems, improving competitiveness and improving UK supply chain access to the international market. Of the bids received by the Ministry of Defence, the Team Resolute bid provides the best value for money to the taxpayer and is the best outcome for the UK shipbuilding industry.

Challenger Tanks

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the (a) in service date and (b) out of service date for the upgraded Challenger 2 main battle tanks.

Alex Chalk: The Challenger programme will upgrade 148 of the Army's existing Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks to the Challenger 3 standard. Challenger 3 is scheduled to enter service in 2027, with an out of service date of 2040.

Armed Forces: Radicalism

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what guidance his Department provides to Armed Forces personnel regarding the membership of organisations, including extreme-right organisations.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to prevent individuals involved with extreme right organisations from joining the UK Armed Forces.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2022 to Question 60934 on Generation Identity: Armed Forces, how many civilian personnel in his Department have been referred to the Prevent scheme since 1 January 2019.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2022 to Question 60934 on Generation Identity: Armed Forces, how many civilian personnel in his Department have been identified as members of Generation Identity since 2019.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2022 to Question 60934 on Generation Identity: Armed Forces, how many (a) civilian and (b) military personnel have been identified as members of a Proscribed Organisation since 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the risk of Extreme Right Wing Terrorism within the Armed Forces and the attraction that it offers to those who hold such views (and in particular the access to training and weapons). Extremist ideology is completely at odds with the values of the Armed Forces and is a matter the MOD takes extremely seriously. The MOD supports the HMG PREVENT strategy and is committed to addressing any incidence of extremist ideology within the Department. Defence continues to work with partners across government to strengthen our internal policies and procedures for raising awareness and responding at pace when a concern is identified. Prevention of extremism within the Armed Forces includes initial vetting on enlistment, ongoing training, raising awareness, and implementing procedures to report and rehabilitate those who are at risk of being drawn into extremism. All Defence staff, including members of the Armed Forces, are prohibited from membership of proscribed organisations. Staff are permitted to join non-proscribed groups if it is compatible with service values and standards, in line with an individual’s rights to exercise their freedom of opinion and expression. This ensures that the Armed Forces are able to continue to recruit and retain personnel drawn from across society, whilst maintaining our service values and standards. Therefore, while Armed Forces personnel are permitted to join political parties and attend political meetings in a personal capacity (provided they do not wear uniform and their Service duties are not impeded); involvement in political marches or demonstrations are prohibited under the Queen’s Regulations. The majority of Defence personnel, including members of the Armed Forces, are subject to a level of national security vetting in accordance with HMG policy, with those in particularly sensitive roles undergoing further, enhanced vetting. As part of the initial vetting process applicants are required to self-declare associations and memberships of any groups involved in espionage, terrorism, sabotage, or activities intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary democracy by political, industrial, or violent means. In addition to this, in all recruitment applications, information provided by applicants is checked against security service records. On joining the Armed Forces, personnel receive training and instruction on the expectations of Service life, including the values and standards they are expected to uphold. This world class training, combined with the preventative measures above, help ensure that membership of extremist organisations is either minimised or identified and managed at the earliest opportunity It must be noted that, while the MOD may refer any civilian staff it may have concerns about to PREVENT, this does not reflect any non-MOD referrals to the scheme of any MOD civilians by third parties. PREVENT is a cross-government scheme, and anyone can refer a person to PREVENT. The MOD does not hold records of any non-MOD referrals to PREVENT for civilian staff. As such, the MOD is unable to provide an accurate figure for civilian PREVENT Referrals. No Defence civil servants have been identified as being a member of Generation Identity since 2019. No member of the Armed Forces or Defence civil servants have been identified or convicted as being a member of a Proscribed Organisation under the Terrorism Act since 2019.

Armed Forces: Paramedical Staff

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to answer of 14 December to Question 104384, how many serving military personnel were (a) qualified paramedics and (b) meet the qualification requirements set out by the Health and Care Professionals Council each year since 2010.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The number of serving military personnel recorded as qualified paramedics in each year since 2010 is as follows: YearQualified paramedics2010~2011~2012352013542014552015512016442017512018130201912620201202021116 ~ In line with Joint Service Publication 200 on statistical disclosure, figures fewer than five have been suppressed. Paramedics have been identified as personnel with a competence on the Joint Personnel Administration system (JPA) which indicates that they have previously qualified as a paramedic. Personnel may or may not be currently serving in this capacity. Army personnel who qualified as paramedics prior to 2007 are excluded.  Once an individual has qualified as a paramedic it is their responsibility to ensure that they register with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) and maintain that registration. This information is not consistently recorded on JPA system.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many urgent repair requests in armed forces accommodation were reported in each month since January 2022.

Alex Chalk: The requested information for Single Living Accommodation is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost. The requested information for Service Family Accommodation is only available from 1st April 2022 and can be found in the table below. MonthUrgent repairs volumeApril2,547May3,487June3,392July3,505August4,003September4,257October4,741November6,941December (to 19th)4,185

Ajax Vehicles: Testing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what milestones other than Reliability and Growth trials the Ajax armoured vehicle need to meet before it reaches initial operating capability.

Alex Chalk: Work to recover the Armoured Cavalry Programme is well underway and will be taken forward for formal approval by Ministers from this Department and His Majesty’s Treasury early in the New Year. Once that has concluded the Department will be in a position to report a revised delivery plan.

Shipbuilding: Contracts

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the National Shipbuilding Office had discussions with the Northern Lighthouse Board prior to the award of a £51.8 million shipbuilding contract to a company based in Spain.

Alex Chalk: The National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) had regular engagement with the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) and the Department for Transport (DfT) before the contract for the new vessel was awarded to identify opportunities for the programme to support the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Astilleros Gondán S.A. was awarded the contract following an open, fair and transparent competitive tender process. Two UK shipyards were included in the shortlist but both yards elected not to submit a tender.The NSO continues to work with both the NLB and DfT to maximise the opportunities that the contract has created for the UK supply chain.

Air Force: Recruitment

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department (a) has received evidence of and (b) is investigating allegations that RAF recruitment (i) policy and (ii) practice as at 1 August 2022 contravened the Equality Act 2010.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Armed Forces Careers Offices prioritised (a) BAME and (b) female candidates for RAF computer based aptitude tests between 26 October and 23 November 2020.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Royal Air Force has instigated a Non-Statutory Inquiry (NSI) which is looking at its historical recruiting culture. The NSI is due to conclude early next year, therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further while this is ongoing.

Type 26 Frigates: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to answer of 14 December to Question 106333, how inflation has increased the cost of the Type 26 Frigate programme.

Alex Chalk: The challenges of rising inflation to the T26 and T31 shipbuilding programmes are being addressed through routine finance processes as part of the shipbuilding pipeline.

Marines

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what are three blocks of the Future Commando Force related to.

Alex Chalk: The Future Commando Force programme has moved from a three block structure into two investment increments called OPERATE and FIGHT.OPERATE is an amalgamation of BLOCK 1 and 2 and will deliver a transformation of 3 Commando Brigade's operational capability on land. FIGHT increment is BLOCK 3 and is vital for our ability to conduct Theatre Entry from sea.

Ajax Vehicles: Testing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how long the Reliability and Growth trials for the Ajax armoured vehicle will last.

Alex Chalk: The Reliability Growth Trials and subsequent analysis are expected to last 18 to 24 months.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) service family accommodation and (b) single living accommodation have had their insulation upgraded since 2010.

Alex Chalk: Service Family Accommodation Due to the format in which building refurbishments are recorded, the total number of Service Family Accommodation which have had their insulation upgraded since 2010 can only be provided at disproportionate costs. However, between Financial Year (FY) 2017-18 and 2021-22, 2782 Service Family Accommodation homes have received full External Wall Insulation. Further insulation work is planned for FY2022-23. Single Living Accommodation Due to the format in which building refurbishments are recorded, the number of Single Living Accommodation which have had their insulation upgraded since 2010 can only be provided at disproportionate costs.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff were employed by Carillion Amey in 2021 to take calls about maintenance requests for Forces housing.

Alex Chalk: Information on staff employed by Amey prior to the FDIS contract, which began in April 2022, is not held.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff (a) Amey and (b) VIVO have working on repairs for military homes.

Alex Chalk: The number of Amey and VIVO staff working on repairs for military homes are:Amey - 134 staff VIVO - 304 staff In addition, both companies employ sub-contractors to work on repairs to military homes.

Weapons: Expenditure

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department has been of the Case Telescopic Cannon System.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cannons his Department (a) ordered and (b) received under the Case Telescopic Cannon System.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Ajax armoured vehicles he plans will have cannons from the Case Telescopic Cannon System fitted.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what cannons will be fitted to each of the Ajax armoured vehicle variants.

Alex Chalk: The Cased Telescopic Cannon is a joint project with the French Directorate of General Armaments so development and qualification costs have been shared. A total of €333 million and £31.4 million has been spent by the UK Ministry Of Defence to develop and qualify the cannon, four different 40mm ammunition types and to procure 515 cased telescopic cannons. All 515 cannons have been delivered on budget and ahead of schedule, together with technical publications and an initial quantity of spares. The Ajax programme is due to deliver 245 turreted variants making up 41% of the overall Ajax fleet. Every turreted variant will be fitted with the Build Standard 8 Cased Telescopic Cannon System.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has spent on housing forces personnel and their dependents in emergency accommodation due to major repair needs at their military accommodation each year since 2010.

Alex Chalk: Information prior to 2014 is not held. Information between 2014 and 31 March 2022 can only be provided at disproportionate cost.Since 1 April 2022, the Department has spent £204,822.70 housing 372 moves for Service personnel and their families to temporary emergency accommodation due to major repair needs at their military accommodation.Ministry of Defence's contractor, Pinnacle, administer this process and costs are incurred either by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation or Regional Accommodation Maintenance Service contractors, Amey and VIVO, where major repairs require Service families to be placed in temporary accommodation.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many subcontractors are employed by (a) Amey and (b) VIVO to work on repair for military homes.

Alex Chalk: Amey has six Tier 1 subcontractors, and 163 second and third tier subcontractors, some of which are individual people.VIVO has 14 Tier 1 subcontractors and 30 Tier 2 subcontractors. A large proportion of repairs are delivered by VIVO and their parent companies Equans and Serco.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the average wait time for calls to the National Service Centre.

Alex Chalk: The average wait time for calls to the National Service Centre between the period 1 – 30 November 2022, was 8 minutes and 28 seconds. As shown in the table below, from 9 December 2022, there has been a sharp increase in the wait times, due to the cold weather.  01 Dec02 Dec03 Dec04 Dec05 Dec06 Dec07 Dec08 Dec09 Dec10 Dec11 Dec12 Dec13 Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec National Service Centre Totals00:02:2600:04:2600:03:2800:05:5700:05:4600:03:4500:02:3100:04:4500:13:2200:32:2300:25:0600:23:1400:22:3800:26:0200:37:4500:45:1401:39:1500:45:06

Ministry of Defence: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which energy provider supplies energy to their Department; how much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is; and what recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use.

Alex Chalk: The Ministry of Defence receives its Energy via the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Government framework which procures Grid Gas from 'Total Gas and Power' and Electricity from 'EDF'. The Department is mandated to utilise this government framework.CCS operates a centralised energy procurement strategy for central government and is responsible for selecting the gas and power supply companies on behalf of all departments. CCS is currently conducting its latest tender round on behalf of departments and the supplier environmental credentials will be part of the selection criteria.Defence's publicly stated ambition is to reduce its emissions and increased its sustainability activity and as a department fully contribute to the achievement of the UK legal commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. To support this contribution Defence is taking a sectoral approach to aid in the identification and subsequent prioritisation of Departmental decarbonisation efforts while preserving our capability levels. This approach will help to drive real change from decarbonising our bases and barracks, innovation on future fuels through to increasing sequestration opportunities on our rural estate.Defence's emissions are reported in the Department's Annual Report and Accounts. For Financial Year 2021-22, Defence's reported Carbon Footprint, which includes emissions from our estate, capabilities, services families' accommodation and business travel, is 3.341 mt CO2e. For the Defence estate and business travel only, the emissions were 0.965 mt CO2e.

Armed Forces: Housing

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December to Question 104385 on Armed Forces: Housing, why his Department's decision on the Future Accommodation Model is now expected in 2023.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Future Accommodation Model (FAM) Pilot continues to operate at three pilot sites until 31 March 2023. We continue to learn lessons which will form part of the FAM Business Case being considered for approval in 2023, with the introduction of the new accommodation offer aligning with the commitment made in the Defence Accommodation Strategy (DAS). A comprehensive change and communications plan will support the end of the pilot and the introduction of the new accommodation offer which is expected to launch from Autumn 2023.

Armed Forces: Sexual Offences

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether people (a) convicted and (b) discharged under his Department's zero tolerance approach to sexual offences will continue to receive (i) paid leave and (ii) other pensions and entitlement.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether people (a) convicted and (b) discharged under his Departments zero tolerance approach to sexual offences will have to resign their commission.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The 'Zero tolerance to unacceptable sexual behaviour: A victim / survivor focussed approach' policy sets out a presumption of discharge from the Service for those who are found, after investigation and to the civil standard of proof (balance of probability), to have engaged in unacceptable sexual behaviour. If a Service person is convicted of a sexual offence (either by a civilian court or by a Court Martial but where the Court Martial has not dismissed, or dismissed with disgrace, the offender as part of the sentence), under the zero-tolerance policy, they will be administratively discharged. Any benefits admissible (including pension) will be those which would have been awarded on voluntary retirement. Administrative discharges for misconduct of such a nature as may be deemed to render the grant of terminal leave unjustified, will not be eligible for that leave but any annual leave accrued prior to discharge will usually be awarded. In the event of conviction by a Court Martial which sentences the offender to dismissal or dismissal with disgrace, the offender will not be eligible for terminal leave but will usually be entitled to any accrued pension and payment for any outstanding annual leave accrued prior to dismissal. Pension legislation is very clear that accrued pension can only be removed in the event of a conviction for specific very serious offences including (but not limited to) treason and offences under the Official Secrets Act where the offender is sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. There is no provision which would allow removal of pension for any kind of sexual offences (unless there was unlawful killing as well). In the circumstances of a Service person being convicted of a sexual offence it would usually be inappropriate for them to continue to be associated with the Service. As such, their commission will normally be terminated unless there are exceptional circumstances justifying retention.

Department for Work and Pensions

Employment Schemes: Finance

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how his Department plans to reallocate the underspend from the Plan for Jobs in the 2020-21 financial year.

Mims Davies: DWP drew-down £1.2billion in additional funding at Supplementary Estimates in February 2021 to fund the Plan for Jobs. The Department’s budget for 2021/22, including the funding available for the Plan for Jobs in that year, was set as part of the Spending Review (SR) 2020.

Children: Maintenance

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that where children or adults are the subject of a Child Maintenance case and registered in full time education, Child Maintenance is only payable if the Child Maintenance Service is satisfied that they are attending and participating in that education.

Mims Davies: To qualify for maintenance payments a child must meet the Child Maintenance Service's (CMS) criteria.A person is considered a child for child maintenance purposes if they are under the age of 16 and habitually resident in the UK or if they are under the age of 20 and are considered a qualifying young person.A qualifying young person is someone who is aged over 16 but under 20, and in full-time non-advanced education or approved training for at least 12 hours a week or if Child Benefit is payable.The CMS may amend a calculation if we receive evidence that a child is no longer in full-time non-advanced education or approved training, but we do not measure attendance or participation.

Department for Work and Pensions: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which energy provider supplies energy to their Department; how much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is; and what recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use.

Mims Davies: DWP’s main energy suppliers are Total Energies for gas and EDF for electricity, these supplies are arranged in a tri-party contract with Crown Commercial Services (CCS). DWP aims to ensure all supplies are made with CCS. However, as the DWP acquires new properties, incumbent suppliers (whoever they may be) are adopted in the short term whilst the supply is changed over. The below list includes suppliers that have served DWP in the last 6 months.  SupplierElectricityGasBritish GasYBulb EnergyYCorona EnergyYDraxYEcotricityYEDF EnergyYEngieYEonYEon NextYYNpowerYOpus EnergyYPozitive EnergyYScottish PowerYSmartest EnergyYSSEYYTotalenergies Gas & Power LtdYYUnify Energy LtdYUnited Gas & Power LimitedY How much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available? 80,990.44 tonnes CO2e (Full Financial Year 21/22)32,695.64 Tonnes CO2e (First two quarters 22/23 - April 2022 to September 2022)* *Spring and summer months  Whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is. Crown Commercial Service (CCS) operates a centralised energy procurement strategy for central government and is responsible for selecting the gas and power supply companies on behalf of all departments. CCS is currently conducting its latest tender round on behalf of departments and the supplier environmental credentials will be part of the selection criteria. What recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy useThe department has a carbon and water management plan as well as a sustainability strategy and is currently running a number of projects to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. These include:Introducing Solar panelsLED replacementsUltra-low emission vehicle infrastructure installationMonitoring and optimising Heating and Ventilation controls via a centralised Building Management SystemConnecting to District Heat Networks (DHN) where appropriate for example at Quarry House, one of our hub sites in LeedsIdentifying opportunities to decarbonise the estate – e.g., air source heat pumps and undertaking decarbonisation plans

Children: Maintenance

Nickie Aiken: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Departments response to the consultation entitled Child Maintenance: modernising and improving our service, published 18 June 2021, when he plans to implement the changes to secondary legislation set out in that response.

Mims Davies: In May 2022 the government made changes to the Child Support Information Regulations 2008 to expand information regulations to include private pension providers, academy proprietors, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and all types of companies that offer, promote or sell investment management services or facilitate share trading. The government also updated all the Child Maintenance regulations that deal with communications, to enable the Secretary of State to serve notice or notifications to customers and third parties, such as employers, in writing by post or by electronic means.We are planning to make changes in secondary legislation as parliamentary time allows, to bring into force changes to:Automatically take into account unearned income in the child maintenance calculationExtinguish low level debt and maintenance not collected when an employer becomes insolvent

Department for Work and Pensions: Flexible Working

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's policy is on flexible working for its employees.

Mims Davies: All colleagues have access to a flexi time scheme, with the exception of those in Senior Civil Service roles. Those in certain roles may also work some of their time at home as ‘hybrid workers’. In addition, eligible employees can also apply for flexible working and in compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, each application would be considered on its merits taking account of all the relevant circumstances. Most commonly this would be applications to work part-time or part-year hours.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Sewage: Great Yarmouth

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to help prevent further discharges of raw sewage into (a) the River Yare and (b) other waters near Great Yarmouth.

Rebecca Pow: This is the first Government to take such significant steps to tackle sewage overflows, including those near Great Yarmouth. We have been repeatedly clear to water companies that they must tackle sewage overflows urgently, and the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan will deliver the largest infrastructure investment in water company history to clean up our rivers. Under the Environment Act we have improved monitoring and the transparency of data related to sewage overflows. Event Duration Monitors will be fully rolled out by 2023. This will help monitor local sewage impacts and hold water companies to account to deliver rapid improvements.On a local level, so far in 2022 the Environment Agency has brought 8 prosecutions against Anglian Water, with over £1.75 million in fines issued. On 30th November we released this year's bathing water classifications. I’m pleased that the beaches in Great Yarmouth and the surrounding area were all classified as 'Excellent' for their water quality in 2022.

Smoke Control Areas: Databases

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she will publish a central database of Smoke Control Areas for England.

Rebecca Pow: Defra published an interactive map of Smoke Control Areas in England on the UK Air website in May 2022, with the data being available upon request. This is accessible through the following URL: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/sca/.

Climate Change Convention

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on whether it is the Government's negotiating position at COP27 that some commitments made at COP26 which have not yet been met should be withdrawn.

Trudy Harrison: The Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of issues with Cabinet colleagues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.

Nature Conservation: Carbon Emissions

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Climate Change Commission's Net Zero pathway will be amended to account for the Government's commitment to protecting 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030.

Trudy Harrison: The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body created by the Climate Change Act 2008. The CCC provides advice to the UK and devolved Governments on greenhouse gas emissions targets and also reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing these emissions. We value the CCC’s advice, and will respond to the recommendations in their 2022 Progress Report in the Government's official response in March. We have already committed to protect 30% of land and sea in the UK by 2030 (30by30). In addition, we committed in the Food Strategy to publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023. This will articulate how we find the right balance between the many priorities which place a demand on our limited supply of land including: food production; sustainable development; supporting action on climate mitigation and adaptation; and promoting nature’s recovery to address biodiversity loss.

Home Office

Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an emergency fund for those impacted by domestic abuse to provide them with the resources required to flee the perpetrators of that abuse in the context of the increases in the cost of living.

Miss Sarah Dines: Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. A key part of this is making sure victims and survivors get the support they need.The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which we published in March, invests over £230 million, including over £140 million specifically for supporting victims and survivors. The commitments in the Plan include doubling funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.The Plan also committed to establish trials of a ‘flexible fund’, which charities could use to provide extra money to victims and survivors in light of the increased cost of living.More widely, the Government is providing direct Cost of Living Payments to more than 8 million UK households on means tested benefits. These payments will be tax-free, will not count towards the benefit cap, and will not have any impact on existing benefit awards. The Government also is protecting the most vulnerable in society, many of whom face the biggest challenge making their incomes stretch, by increasing benefits in line with inflation. This means that they will rise by September Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation – 10.1%.

Home Office: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Chris Philp: Leaving the EU has provided the UK with the freedom to conceive and implement laws and policies that put the UK first and the opportunity to think boldly about how it regulates its economy for the good of the country as a whole.At the start of this year, the Government set out its plans to maximise the benefits of Brexit across each major sector of the economy and transform the UK into the best regulated country in the world.So much progress has been made, whether that be removing red tape to encourage investment in new technologies and infrastructure, taking back control of alcohol duties to simplify the system or establishing freeports across the country—but there remains a lot more to do.To seize the benefits of Brexit more quickly we are introducing the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, which will enable the Government, via parliament, to remove years of burdensome EU regulation in favour of a more agile, home-grown regulatory approach that benefits the UK—to stimulate economic growth, innovation and job creation. Departments will be able to use the powers within the Bill, to repeal, reform or preserve REUL, in the best interests of the UK.The Home Office is working to maximise the opportunities of Brexit by removing outdated regulation whilst maintaining public safety and national security. In addition, as a result of leaving the EU, the Government ended free movement and launched a points-based immigration system which is tailored to work in the UK’s national interests. It allows us to exercise control and flex the system as we choose, giving us access to the talent and skills we need from across the world.

Home Office: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which energy provider supplies energy to their Department; how much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is; and what recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use.

Chris Philp: The Departments energy is supplied through the Crown Commercial Services Energy Framework. Under this framework, EDF supply electricity and Total Energies supply gas.Departmental carbon dioxide emission for 2021-22 was 24,157 tonnes.Crown Commercial Service (CCS) operates a centralised energy procurement strategy for central government and is responsible for selecting the gas and power supply companies on behalf of all departments. CCS is currently conducting its latest tender round on behalf of departments and the supplier environmental credentials will be part of the selection criteria.Currently our emissions have reduced by 44% compared to our baseline year against a target of 44% by 2025. This has been achieved through a combination of grid decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures taken across our estate.

Anti-social Behaviour: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle antisocial behaviour in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

Chris Philp: The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We know the serious impact that persistent ASB can have on both individuals and the wider community.We provided the police, local authorities, and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to ASB through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.It is for local areas to decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances. They are best placed to understand what is driving the behaviour in question, the impact that it is having, and to determine the most appropriate response.The Home Office published statutory guidance to support local areas to make effective use of these powers. The guidance sets out the importance of focusing on the needs of the victim and the local community, as well as ensuring that the relevant legal tests are met. This guidance was updated in June 2022 to ensure a victim-centered approach to tackling ASB as well as stronger use of the powers and tools in the 2014 Act.As of 30 September 2022, Humberside Police has recruited 263 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 322 officers (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-officer-uplift-quarterly-update-to-september-2022/police-officer-uplift-england-and-wales-quarterly-update-to-30-september-2022). The deployment of all officers is an operational decision for Chief Constables.

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offences: Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure police officers are effectively trained to handle cases of domestic abuse and sexual violence in Hull North.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the charge rates for perpetrators of violence against women and girls.

Miss Sarah Dines: Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls is a priority for this government. We expect police to treat all victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence with the sensitivity and compassion they deserve.In July 2021, the Government published an ambitious cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. The strategy set out actions to prioritise prevention, help support survivors, strengthen the pursuit of perpetrators and create a stronger system, with an ultimate long-term objective of reducing the prevalence of these crimes.In driving delivery of our commitments set out in the strategy, we have supported the introduction of a new full-time National Policing Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls, DCC Maggie Blyth. We have also announced that we will be adding violence against women and girls to the Strategic Policing Requirement, meaning it will be set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.To strengthen the police response to domestic abuse nationally and as part of our commitment in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, we have committed up to £3.3m to support the development and further rollout of the Domestic Abuse Matters training.As part of this commitment, we are funding the development of a new module of the training that is targeted at officers investigating domestic abuse offences to enable further improvement in police responses to domestic abuse incidents. Humberside Police, which covers Hull North, have undertaken the Domestic Abuse Matters training, and we are grateful to them for prioritising this important training in their force.

Pharmacy: Crimes of Violence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle violence against pharmacy staff.

Chris Philp: The Government is clear that violence and abuse towards any worker is not acceptable. We introduced a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The aggravating factor applies in cases of assault where an offence is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public.This legislative change ensures the courts treat the public-facing nature of a victim’s role as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence for an offence.The Home Office works closely with the police-led National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) to understand the crimes affecting businesses and help ensure businesses and police are working effectively together. The NBCC has dedicated guidance on its website NBCC Guidance for staff working in pharmacies to help prevent crimes including violence and abuse.

Asylum: English Channel

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has commissioned research into the reasons for which some asylum seekers cross the channel rather than claim asylum in France.

Robert Jenrick: The research undertaken by Home Office on the drivers for irregular migration is summarised in an evidence pack which was recently released.

Asylum: Standards

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the asylum transformation programme includes a commitment to reinstate the 6-month service standard for decisions on all straightforward asylum applications.

Robert Jenrick: A new accelerated service standard is being developed and we are testing the impact of several coordinated initiatives, including enhanced screening, case triage, centralised workflow and streamlined decision templates, in order to improve productivity and increase decision rates.To accelerate decision making we are simplifying and modernising our system. This includes measures like shortening interviews, removing unnecessary interviews, making guidance simpler and more accessible, dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded and extra decision makers.

Human Trafficking: English Channel

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she holds any information on how many people traffickers operating in the English Channel the French authorities have (a) arrested and (b) charged in each of the last five years.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office are not the owners of this information therefore we are unable to provide it.

Entry Clearances: El Salvador

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for entry clearance have been (a) received and (b) approved by the UK Visa Applications Centre in El Salvador since May 2022.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office is committed to publishing data as part of the immigration statistics quarterly release.The Home Office does not hold published data on the number of applications for entry clearance have been received and approved at the visa application centre in El Salvador. The Home Office does publish data on the number of visa applications received by nationality and region. This can be found in our published statistics: How many people come to the UK each year (including visitors)? - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and breakdown for El Salvador can be obtained by filtering this spreadsheet: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118051/entry-clearance-visa-outcomes-datasets-sep-2022.xlsx

Border Force: Contracts

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to her Department has been of contracts for the use by Border Force of privately owned crew transfer vessels since May 2022.

Robert Jenrick: Border Force currently have 5 contracted CTVs supporting the response to small boats in the Channel.

Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will (a) uncap and (b) extend the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme visa from a maximum duration of six months to a maximum duration of nine months.

Robert Jenrick: The UK government is committed to supporting the agricultural industry and ensuring that it continues to develop and thrive. The Seasonal Worker route will be expanded in 2023, with 45,000 visas available, to support our farmers growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers as they adapt to changes in the UK labour market. The separate poultry quota will remain at 2,000 places. This number will be kept under review with the potential to increase by a further 10,000 if necessary, and contingent on sponsors and growers improving and abiding by to worker welfare standards, including ensuring workers are guaranteed a minimum number of paid hours each week.The seasonal worker route is specifically designed to support the UK horticulture sector – a sector in which growers typically require higher volumes of labour, for relatively short-term periods of time, in line with seasonal production peaks. The route is not designed to support non-seasonal roles which operate on a year-round basis. Employers should look to recruit from the domestic labour market in the first instance which includes those who have EU settled status, or from the range of agricultural roles eligible under the wider Points-Based-System.

Migrants: Detainees

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 35 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 36 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 37 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 38 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 39 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 40 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 41 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 42 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 43 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 44 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 45 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 46 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 47 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 48 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 49 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made in implementing Recommendation 50 of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons by Stephen Shaw.

Robert Jenrick: Stephen Shaw’s reports (of 2016 and 2018) led to a comprehensive and systematic programme of work to improve and reform immigration detention. It informed both our strategic and tactical approach to reform and the treatment of people who are detained. This work has strengthened our decision-making and safeguards for the vulnerable, ensuring those who are detained are treated with dignity and respect in an estate that is fit for purpose.Progress has been made on all accepted recommendations and I wrote to the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon with more detail. A copy of this letter has been placed in the House library for all.

Immigration: Ukraine

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to waive fees for immigration applications for Ukrainian nationals with leave to remain.

Robert Jenrick: There is no fee payable for the applications made under the Ukraine Extension Scheme in the immigration rules. The application fee is exempted under that scheme both for entry clearance/leave to enter and for leave to remain in the UK.Information about fees on Ukraine Schemes can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-stay-in-the-uk-under-the-ukraine-extension-scheme#fees

Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of the Seasonal Worker Scheme visas made available in 2022 have been taken up; and what proportion of those dedicated to poultry workers have been taken up.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release (opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas granted are published in table Vis_D02 of the Entry clearance visas applications and outcomes (opens in a new tab) dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar (opens in a new tab)’.

Naturalisation

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for naturalisation as a British citizen her Department received by the applicant's country of origin in each year between 2017 and 2021; and how many and what proportion of these applicants were (a) granted naturalisation within (i) six months, (ii) 12 months and (iii) two years, (b) refused naturalisation and (c) are awaiting a decision on their application.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office publishes UK data on applications, grants, and refusals of British Nationality in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’.Data on applications and grants of British Citizenship, by year and nationality, are published in tables Cit_D01 and Cit_D02 of the Citizenship detailed data tables dataset. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2022. The Home Office also publishes data on naturalisation applications made and completed each quarter as part of the Transparency data series. This includes performance against the six-month service standard for completing applications. The most recent data set was published on 24 November 2022 and can be found here: Transparency data: Visas and Citizenship Q3 2022

Asylum: Housing

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2022 to Question 75953, how many complaints were registered against Clearspring Ready Homes in each month between 01 December 2021 and 30 November 2022 in relation to that company's provision of accommodation for asylum seekers.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2022 to Question 84895 on Asylum: Housing, how many complaints were received by her Department about Clearspring Ready Homes; and if she will publish a breakdown of those complaints by category.

Robert Jenrick: We expect high standards from all of our providers under the terms of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC). We regularly engage with them to discuss any issues that arise and ensure best practise is always followed. Providers’ performance is monitored closely by dedicated staff in each contract area, who are in daily contact with them. Where performance falls short of the required standard, failures are recorded and can result in the award of points and, ultimately, service credits being applied. This is supplemented by a formal governance process which includes quarterly Strategic Review Management Boards and monthly Contract Management Groups. Service credits and subsequent improvement plans are discussed and monitored as part of this process. Asylum seekers can raise specific issues or concerns about their accommodation through the 24/7 Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service operated via Migrant Help. The AIRE contract has introduced a more independent and transparent oversight of standards through clearer complaints mechanisms for service users and supporting data that allows more intelligent targeting of performance improvement.

Mears Group and Migrant Help: Contracts

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department’s expenditure on its contracts with (a) Mears Group and (b) Migrant Help are classed as Official Development Assistance.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office calculates ODA costs based on who and what the money is spent on, not the provider. Like all Home Office ODA spend, this is calculated in line with the DAC rules.

Asylum: Housing

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2022 to Question 84895 on Asylum: Housing, how many complaints have been escalated to her Department by category in each of the last 12 months.

Robert Jenrick: We expect high standards from all of our providers under the terms of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts (AASC). We regularly engage with them to discuss any issues that arise and ensure best practise is always followed. Providers’ performance is monitored closely by dedicated staff in each contract area, who are in daily contact with them. Where performance falls short of the required standard, failures are recorded and can result in the award of points and, ultimately, service credits being applied. This is supplemented by a formal governance process which includes quarterly Strategic Review Management Boards and monthly Contract Management Groups. Service credits and subsequent improvement plans are discussed and monitored as part of this process. Asylum seekers can raise specific issues or concerns about their accommodation through the 24/7 Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service operated via Migrant Help. The AIRE contract has introduced a more independent and transparent oversight of standards through clearer complaints mechanisms for service users and supporting data that allows more intelligent targeting of performance improvement.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Energy Performance Certificates: Kingston upon Hull North

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of homes that have an Energy Performance Certificate below level C in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 24 November 2022.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of homes that have an Energy Performance Certificate below level E in Kingston upon Hull North constituency as of 24 November 2022.

Lee Rowley: I refer the Rt Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 105314 on 12 December 2022.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which energy provider supplies energy to their Department; how much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is; and what recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use.

Dehenna Davison: The Department's Estate is managed by the Government Property Agency, which includes the procurement and management of DLUHC's energy supplies.Latest published data on tCO2e (Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalents) emissions are published here.

Planning: Applications

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps is his Department taking to increase the speed of the planning applications process.

Lucy Frazer: The powers we are taking through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will enable us to create a more consistent, streamlined and digitally enabled approach to planning applications. This will be proportionate to the scale and nature of the development proposed. When utilised with existing powers, this will enable us to create an end to end system which is faster and more accessible to communities.In addition, we have announced our intention to increase planning fees, to support the additional resourcing of local authority planning departments, together with a new planning performance framework to ensure the delivery of a high quality and timely planning service.

Social Rented Housing: Construction

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase the number of social homes being built each year.

Lucy Frazer: Since 2010, we have delivered over 632,600 new affordable homes, including over 441,612 affordable homes for rent, of which over 162,800 homes for social rent.

First Time Buyers: Government Assistance

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support first time buyers onto the housing ladder.

Lucy Frazer: The Government is committed to helping first time buyers to get on the housing ladder. Over 819,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since Spring 2010 through Government backed schemes including First Homes, Shared Ownership and the Lifetime ISA.

Housing: Construction

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of making housing targets advisory on the Government's housing target commitments.

Lucy Frazer: I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Secretary of State’s Statement of 6 December.

Housing: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he would make an assessment of the seriousness of housing shortages in York; and if he will meet local Members to discuss innovative solutions.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will commission a review of (a) the disposal of public land and (b) its potential use for social housing.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the effects on housing of variations in the interpretation of permitted development rights by planning authorities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to encourage the inclusion in local plans of (a) cycling, (b) walking and (c) rights of way plans.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to encourage innovative forms of public engagement in the planning process.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to create a duty in the planning system to establish nature networks and protect biodiversity.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of the numbers of planning officers in local authorities; and what steps he is taking to address shortages of those officers.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to promote the creation of green spaces on brownfield sites.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure local communities are heard in the planning process.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will develop a database of the number of second homes in every local authority area in England.

Lucy Frazer: The Government collects data on the number of second homes in England. The latest data can be found here. National planning policy sets out that planning policies and decisions should consider the need for safe and accessible green infrastructure and open space, and local planning authorities should pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gain for biodiversity, including on brownfield sites. National planning requires local plans to provide for attractive and well-designed walking and cycling networks with supporting facilities such as secure cycle parking. Plans should also protect and enhance public rights of way and access. National Planning Policy already states that local planning authorities should pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gain for biodiversity.Regarding York, the York local plan remains at examination. The Inspectors have yet to conclude the examination but it is important that the Independent Inspectors are given the opportunity to complete their final report.The Government is working to release public land for new housing.Communities must be at the heart of the planning process. The Government’s reforms, detailed in a recent WMS, will increase and enhance opportunities for involvement, so it is simpler, faster and easier for communities to engage with local plans.We intend to consult shortly on an increase to planning fees that will help provide additional resources to further support the delivery and improvement of planning services.

Parking: Fines

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the amount raised by local councils in parking fines in each year from 2019.

Dehenna Davison: Local authorities regular annual Revenue Outturn data returns for England include reporting their income from Penalty Charge Notices relating to on-street parking. These data are published for England here.For councils in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the respective devolved administrations may hold this information.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Northern Ireland Investment Plan for the Shared Prosperity Fund is consistent with the equality requirements under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent assessment of the ability of applicants to the Shared Prosperity Fund in Northern Ireland to demonstrate the compliance of their bids with state aid rules.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the requirement that applications to the Shared Prosperity Fund from organisations based in Northern Ireland demonstrate compliance with State Aid requirements on the volume of applications to that fund from such organisations.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) recognises the importance of meeting its legal obligations and giving due regard to the additional equalities considerations that apply in Northern Ireland.It is also DLUHC's responsibility to ensure that selected projects are state aid or subsidy control compliant.The department's proposed delivery approaches for this priority are via councils and competitions for experienced deliverers of business support, who we anticipate will have sufficient expertise to provide credible applications taking account of state aid and subsidy control.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Brexit

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on their ability to deliver successful policy outcomes.

Dehenna Davison: Leaving the EU has provided the UK with the freedom to conceive and implement laws and policies that put the UK first and the opportunity to think boldly about how it regulates its economy for the good of the country as a whole.At the start of this year, the Government set out its plans to maximise the benefits of Brexit across each major sector of the economy and transform the UK into the best regulated country in the world.To seize the benefits of Brexit more quickly the Government is introducing the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, which will enable the Government, via parliament, to remove years of burdensome EU regulation in favour of a more agile, home-grown regulatory approach that benefits the UK—to stimulate economic growth, innovation and job creation.Departments will be able to use the powers within the Bill, to repeal, reform or preserve REUL, in the best interests of the United Kingdom.The £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is a central pillar of the UK Government’s ambitious Levelling Up agenda has been designed to build pride in place and increase life chances across the UKThe EU had strict, rigid requirements on what money could and couldn’t be spent on, but our approach is more flexible, empowering local people who know best.

Church Commissioners

Clergy

Jim Shannon: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, by what proportion the number of ordinands in the Church of England has changed since 2016.

Andrew Selous: In 2016 there were 1,184 ordinands in total, including 476 ordinands starting training. In 2020 those figures had risen to 1,373 in total, including 591 starting training, the largest number in a generation.The latest numbers, for 2021, show 1,276 in total, including 478 starting training, which is partly a result of the impact of Covid. There is an expectation that overall numbers will increase again.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for October 2021, where were the hotels on which £7497.08 was spent between the period of 18-25 October; for which individuals that accommodation was purchased; and what the purpose was of their stay at those hotels.

Nigel Huddleston: The breakdown of the £7,497.08 consists of the following:£3,041.27 - This spend related to accommodation for Lord Grimstone, and an accompanying Private Secretary, who attended and spoke at the Future Investment Initiative (FII). Lord Grimstone met several senior Saudi Ministers and international businesses. Lord Grimstone also represented the UK at the Middle East Green Initiative during his visit. Lord Grimstone stayed for 3 nights, 2 of which were complementary for his role speaking at the event. The cost of the 3 nights’ accommodation for the Private Secretary was met by the department. £1,296.90 – This spend relates to 5 nights (17-22 Oct 21) accommodation costs for the UK Defence & Security Exports (UK DSE) Senior Military Advisor who attended ADEX (a leading Aviation exhibition in North East Asia) in Republic of Korea as part of UKDSE delegation in October. £1,150 – This was a lunch event at a hotel, hosted by Lord Faulkner, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Taiwan, in support of the 24th annual UK-Taiwan trade talks. £879.09 - This relates to accommodation costs for the UK DSE’s Senior Military Advisor and the UK DSE desk officer responsible for Turkey who supported government talks with UK Embassy staff in Turkey. Accommodation for 2 people from 25-28 October for 3 nights. £585.19 – This spend relates to 3 nights’ accommodation costs for UK DSE’s Principal Police and Security Advisor who attended MiliPol Paris (a leading Homeland security and safety exhibition) in October. £544.63 – This spend relates to 3 nights’ accommodation costs during the period of 27-31 October 2022 for a Department for International Trade Air Advisor who was the UK representative at the USAF Air Mobility Command’s annual Airlift Tanker Convention in Orlando, Florida.

Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for October 2021, where was the hotel accommodation on which £5,980.00 was spent on 18 November 2021; for which individuals was that accommodation purchased; and what was the purpose of their stay at that hotel.

Nigel Huddleston: This booking was for a hotel in central Belfast. A group reservation for 30 individuals was made to accommodate Ministers, Board of Trade Advisors and Department for International Trade officials attending the Board of Trade meeting and broader visit programme, which took place in Northern Ireland from 25-26 November 2021. The department paid £2,990.00 for the accommodation. The other entry for £2,990.00 reported in November 2021’s electronic purchasing card spending records was a duplication of the same transaction included in the report in error and was not an additional charge to the Department.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the UK requesting a carve out of Investor State Dispute Mechanisms inherent to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership when negotiating the UK’s accession to the CPTPP; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Huddleston: The precise details of any future free trade agreement are a matter of negotiation; we would not seek to pre-empt these discussions.The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (CPTPP’s) investment chapter includes investor protections that are backed by a modern and transparent investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. These commitments guarantee the treatment investors will receive when accessing and operating in CPTPP markets and provides an independent form of legal redress should investors not receive such treatment. The UK has 90+ Bilateral Investment Treaties in force with ISDS and has never received a successful claim nor has the threat of potential claims affected our legislation.